TRAVELS    AND    RESEARCHES 


BARON   HUMEOLDT. 


NEW- YORK: 

J.  &  J.  HARPER,  82  CLIFF-STREET, 

1833. 


THE 


, TRAVELS    AND    RESEARCHES 


ALEXANDER   VON  HUMBOLDT; 

BEING 
A   CONDENSED  NARRATIVE   OF   HIS   JOURNEYS  IN  THE 

EQUINOCTIAL  REGIONS  OP  AMERICA,  AND  IN 
ASIATIC   RUSSIA:  —  TOGETHER   WITH 
ANALYSES  OP  HIS  MORE  IMPORT- 
ANT   INVESTIGATIONS. 


BY  W.  MACGILLIVRAY,  A.M., 

Conservator  of  the  Museums  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of  Edinburgh,  Member  of 
the  Natural  History  Societies  of  Edinburgh  and  Philadelphia,  &c. 


.WITH  A  MAP  OF  THE  ORINOCO,  AND  ENGRAVINGS. 


NEW-YORK: 

PRINTED    AND    PUBLISHED   BY  J.  &  J.  HARPER, 

No.    82   CLIFF-STREET, 

AND   SOLD  BY   THE   BOOKSELLERS  GENERALLY  THROUGHOUT 
THE   UNITED   STATES. 

1833. 


PREFACE. 


THE  celebrity  which  Baron  Humboldt  enjoys,  and 
which  he  has  earned  by  a  life  of  laborious  investiga- 
tion and  perilous  enterprise,  renders  his  name  fami- 
liar to  every  person  whose  attention  has  been  drawn 
to  political  statistics  or  natural  philosophy.  In  the 
estimation  of  the  learned  no  author  of  the  present 
day  occupies  a  higher  place  among  those  who  have 
enlarged  the  boundaries  of  human  knowledge.  To 
every  one,  accordingly,  whose  aim  is  the  general  cul- 
tivation of  the  mental  faculties,  his  works  are  recom- 
mended by  the  splendid  pictures  of  scenery  which 
they  contain,  the  diversified  information  which  they 
afford  respecting  objects  of  universal  interest,  and 
the  graceful  attractions  with  which  he  has  succeeded 
in  investing  the  majesty  of  science. 

These  considerations  have  induced  the  publishers 
to  offer  a  condensed  account  of  his  Travels  and  Re- 
seaVches,  such  as,  without  excluding  subjects  even 
of  laboured  investigation,  might  yet  chiefly  embrace 
those  which  are  best  suited  to  the  purposes  of  the 
general  reader.  The  public  taste  has  of  late  years 
gradually  inclined  towards  objects  of  useful  know- 
ledge,— works  of  imagination  have  in  a  great  mea- 
A2 


O  PREFACE. 

sure  given  place  to  those  occupied  with  descriptions 
of  nature,  physical  or  moral, — and  the  phenomena 
of  the  material  world  now  afford  entertainment  to 
many  who  in  former  times  would  have  sought  for  it 
at  a  different  source.  Romantic  incidents,  perilous 
adventures,  the  struggles  of  conflicting  armies,  and 
vivid  delineations  of  national  manners  and  individ- 
ual character,  naturally  excite  a  lively  interest  in 
every  bosom,  whatever  may  be  the  age  or  sex ;  but, 
surely,  the  great  facts  of  creative  power  and  wis- 
dom, as  exhibited  in  regions  of  the  globe  of  which 
they  have  no  personal  knowledge,  are  net  less  cal- 
culated to  fix  the  attention  of  all  reflecting  minds. 
The  magnificent  vegetation  of  the  tropical  regions, 
displaying  forests  of  gigantic  trees,  interspersed  with 
the  varied  foliage  of  innumerable  shrubs,  and  adorned 
with  festoons  of  climbing  and  odoriferous  plants ; 
the  elevated  table-lands  of  the  Andes,  crowned  by 
volcanic  cones  whose  summits  shoot  high  into  the 
region  of  perennial  snow  ;  the  earthquakes  that  have 
desolated  populous  and  fertile  countries ;  the  vast 
expanse  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  with  its  circling  cur- 
rents ;  and  the  varied  aspect  of  the  heavens  in  those 
distant  lands, — are  subjects  suited  to  the  taste  of 
every  individual  who  is  capable  of  contemplating  the 
wonderful  machinery  of  the  universe. 

It  is  unnecessary  here  to  present  an  analysis  of 
the  labours  of  the  illustrious  philosopher  whose  foot- 
steps are  traced  in  this  volume.  Suffice  it  to  observe, 
that  some  notices  respecting  his  early  life  introduce 
the  reader  to  an  acquaintance  with  his  character  and 
motives,  as  the  adventurous  traveller,  who,  crossing 


PREFACE  7 

the  Atlantic,  traversed  the  ridges  and  plains  of  Vene- 
zuela, ascended  the  Orinoco  to  its  junction  with  the 
Amazon,  sailed  down  the  former  river  to  the  capital 
of  Guiana,  and  after  examining  the  island  of  Cuba, 
mounted  by  the  valley  of  the  Magdalena  to  the  ele- 
vated platforms  of  the  Andes,  explored  the  majestic 
solitudes  of  the  great  Cordilleras  of  Quito,  navigated 
the  margin  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  wandered  over 
the  extensive  and  interesting  provinces  of  New- 
Spain,  whence  he  made  his  way  back  by  the  United 
States  to  Europe.  The  publication  of  the  important 
results  of  this  journey  was  not  completed  when  he 
undertook  another  to  Asiatic  Russia  and  the  con- 
fines of  China,  from  which  he  has  but  lately  re- 
turned. 

From  the  various  works  which  he  has  given  to  the 
world  have  been  derived  the  chief  materials  of  this 
narrative ;  and,  when  additional  particulars  were 
wanted,  application  was  made  to  M.  de  Humboldt 
himself,  who  kindly  pointed  out  the  sources  whence 
the  desired  information  might  be  obtained.  The 
life  of  a  man  of  letters,  he  justly  observed,  ought 
to  be  sought  for  in  his  books  ;  and  for  this  reason 
little  has  been  said  respecting  his  occupations  during 
the  intervals  of  repose  which  have  succeeded  his 
perilous  journeys. 

It  is  only  necessary  further  to  apprize  the  reader, 
that  the  several  measurements,  the  indications  of  the 
thermometer,  and  the  value  of  articles  of  industry 
or  commerce,  which  in  the  original  volumes  are  ex- 
pressed according  to  French,  Spanish,  and  Russian 
usage,  have  been  reduced  to  English  equivalents. 


8  PREFACE. 

Finally,  the  publishers,  confident  that  this  abridged 
account  of  the  travels  of  Humboldt  will  prove  bene- 
ficial in  diffusing  a  knowledge  of  the  researches  of 
that  eminent  naturalist,  and  in  leading  to  the  study 
of  those  phenomena  which  present  themselves  daily 
to  the  eye,  send  it  forth  with  a  hope  that  its  reception 
will  be  as  favourable  and  extensive  as  that  bestowed 
upon  its  predecessors. 

EDINBURGH,  October,  1832. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Birth  and  Education  of  Humboldt— His  early  Occupations— He  resolves 
to  visit  Africa — Is  disappointed  in  his  Views,  and  goes  to  Madrid, 
where  he  is  introduced  to  the  King,  and  obtains  Permission  to  visit 
the  Spanish  Colonies — Observations  made  on  the  Journey  through 
Spain — Geological  Constitution  of  the  Country  between  Madrid  and 
Corunna — Climate — Ancient  Submersion  of  the  Shores  of  the  Medi- 
terranean— Reception  at  Corunna,  and  Preparations  for  the  Voyage  to 
South  America • Page  15 

CHAPTER  II. 

VOYAGE  FROM  CORUNNA  TO  TENERIFFE. 

Departure  from  Corunna — Currents  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean — Marine  Ani- 
mals— Falling  Stars — Swallows — Canary  Islands — Lancerota — Fucus 
vitifolius— Causes  of  the  Green  Colour  of  Plants— La  Graciosa— 
Stratified  Basalt  alternating  with  Marl— Hyalite— Quartz  Sand- 
Remarks  on  the  Distance  at  which  Mountains  are  visible  at  Sea,  and 
the  Causes  by  which  it  is  modified— Landing  at  Teneriffe — .  —  22 

CHAPTER  III. 

ISLAND   OF   TENERIFFE. 

Santa  Cruz — Villa  de  la  Laguna — Guanches — Present  Inhabitants  of 
Teneriffe — Climate — Scenery  of  the  Coast — Orotava — Dragon-tree — 
Ascent  of  the  Peak— Its  Geological  Character— Eruptions— Zones  of 
Vegetation— Fires  of  St.  John 35 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PASSAGE   FROM   TENERIFFE   TO  CUMANA. 

Departure  from  Santa  Cru/,— Floating  Seaweeds— Flying-fish— Stars- 
Malignant  Fever— Island  of  Tobago— Death  of  a  Passenger— Island 
of  Coche — Port  of  Cumana — Observations  made  during  the  Voyage ; 
Temperature  of  the  Air ;  Temperature  of  the  Sea  ;  Hygrometrical 
State  of  the  Air  ;  Colour  of  the  Sky  and  Ocean 47 


10  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

CUMANA. 

Landing  at  Cumana— Introduction  to  the  Governor— State  of  the  Sick- 
Description  of  the  Country  and  City  of  Cumana — Mode  of  Bathing  in 
the  Manzanares — Port  of  Cumana — Earthquakes ;  Their  Periodicity ; 
Connexion  with  the  State  of  the  Atmosphere ;  Gaseous  Emanations ; 
Subterranean  Noises ;  Propagation  of  Shocks ;  Connexion  between 
those  of  Cumana  and  the  West  Indies ;  and  general  Phenomena. . .  59 

CHAPTER  VI. 

RESIDENCE   AT   CUMANA. 

Lunar  Halo— African  Slaves— Excursion  to  the  Peninsula  of  Araya— 
Geological  Constitution  of  the  Country— Salt-works  of  Araya— Indians 
and  Mulattoes — Pearl-fishery — Maniquarez — Mexican  Deer— Spring 
of  Naphtha 66 

CHAPTER  VII. 

MISSIONS   OF   THE   CHAYMAS. 

Excursion  to  the  Missions  of  the  Chayma  Indians — Remarks  on  Cul- 
tivation— The  Impossible — Aspect  of  the  Vegetation — San  Fernando — 
Account  of  a  Man  who  suckled  a  Child — Cumanacoa — Cultivation  of 
Tobacco — Igneous  Exhalations — Jaguars — Mountain  of  Cocollar — 
Turimiquiri — Missions  of  San  Antonio  and  Guanaguana 73 

CHAPTER  VIH. 

EXCURSION  CONTINUED,  AND  RETURN  TO  CUMANA. 

Convent  of  Caripe — Cave  of  Guacharo,  inhabited  by  Nocturnal  Birds — 
Purgatory — Forest  Scenery — Howling  Monkeys — Vera  Cruz — Cariaco 
—Intermittent  Fevers— Cocoa-trees— Passage  across  the  Gulf  of  Cari- 
aco to  Cumana 86 

CHAPTER  IX. 

INDIANS  OF   NEW-ANDALUSIA. 

Physical  Constitution  and  Manners  of  the  Chaymas— Their  Languages 
—American  Races 96 

CHAPTER  X. 

RESIDENCE   AT   CUMANA. 

Residence  at  Cumana— Attack  of  a  Zambo— Eclipse  of  the  San- 
Extraordinary  Atmospherical  Phenomena— Shocks  of  an  Earthquake 
— Luminous  Meteors 104 


CONTENTS.  1 1 

CHAPTER  XI. 

VOYAGE  FROM  CUMANA  TO  GUAYRA.  , 

Passage  from  Cumana  to  La  Guayra— Phosphorescence  of  the  Sea- 
Group  of  the  Caraccas  and  Chimauas— Port  of  New-Barcelona—La 
Guayra— Yellow  Fever  — Coast  and  Cape  Blanco  —  Road  from  La 
Guayra  to  Caraccas HO 

CHAPTER  XII. 

CITY  OF   CARACCAS  AND  SURROUNDING  DISTRICT. 

City  of  Caraccas— General  View  of  Venezuela— Population— Climate- 
Character  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Caraccas— Ascent  of  the  Silla— Geo- 
logical Nature  of  the  District,  and  the  Mines 123 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

EARTHQUAKES  OF   CARACCAS. 

Extensive  Connexion  of  Earthquakes— Eruption  of  the  Volcano  of  St. 
Vincent's— Earthquake  of  the  26th  March,  1812— Destruction  of  the 
City— Ten  Thousand  of  the  Inhabitants  killed— Consternation  of  the 
Survivors — Extent  of  the  Commotions 135 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

JOURNEY  FROM  CARACCAS  TO  THE  LAKE  OF  VALENCIA. 

Departure  from  Caraccas— La  Buenavista— Valleys  of  San  Pedro  and  the 
Tuy — Manterola—  Zamang-tree — Valleys  of  Aragua — Lake  of  Valencia 

.  — Diminution  of  its  Waters — Hot  Springs — Jaguar — New- Valencia — 
Thermal  Waters  of  La  Trinchera— Porto  Cabello — Cow-tree — Cocoa- 
plantations— General  View  of  the  Littoral  District  of  Venezuela. .  142 

CHAPTER  XV. 

JOURNEY  ACROSS  THE  LLANOS  FROM  ARAGUA  TO   SAN 
FERNANDO. 

Mountains  between  the  Valleys  of  Aragua  and  the  Llanos — Their  Geologi- 
cal Constitution— The  Llanos  of  Caraccas — Route  over  the  Savanna 
to  the  Rio  Apure— Cattle  and  Deer— Vegetation— Calabozo— Gymnoti 
or  Electric  Eels— Indian  Girl— Alligators  and  Boas— Arrival  at  San 
Fernando  de  Apure 160 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

VOYAGE  DOWN  THE  RIO  APURE. 

San  Fernando— Commencement  of  the  Rainy  Season— Progress  of  At- 
mospherical Phenomena— Cetaceous  Animals— Voyage  down  the  Rio 
Apure— Vegetation  and  Wild  Animals— Crocodiles,  Chiguires,  and 


12  CONTENTS. 

Jaguars— Don  Ignacio  and  Donna  Isabella — Water-fowl — Nocturnal 
Ilovvlings  in  the  Forest— Caribe-fish— Adventure  with  a  Jaguar— Ma- 
natees— Mouth  of  the  Rio  Apure 174 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
VOYAGE   UP   THE   ORINOCO. 

Ascent  of  the  Orinoco— Port  of  Encaramadm— Traditions  of  a  universal 
Deluge— Gathering  of  Turtles'  Eggs— Two  Species  described — Mode 
of  collecting  the  Eggs  and  of  manufacturing  the  Oil — Probable  Num- 
ber of  these  Animals  on  the  Orinoco — Decorations  of  the  Indians—- 
Encampment  of  Pararuma— Height  of  the  Inundations  of  the  Ori- 
noco—Ilapids  of  Tabage 189 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

VOYAGE   UP   THE   ORINOCO   CONTINUED. 

Mission  of  Atures— Epidemic  Fevers — Black  Crust  of  Granitic  Rocks- 
Causes  of  Depopulation  of  the  Missions — Falls  of  Apures — Scenery — 
Anecdote  of  a  Jaguar — Domestic  Animals — Wild  Man  of  the  Wooda 
— Mosquitoes  and  other  poisonous  Insects — Mission  and  Cataracts  of 
Maypures — Scenery — Inhabitants — Spice-trees — San  Fernando  de  Ata- 
bipo— San  Baltasar— The]  Mother's  Rock— Vegetation— Dolphins— 
San  Antonio  de  Javita — Indians — Elastic  Gum — Serpents — Portage  of 
the  Pimichin — Arrival  at  the  Rio  Negro,  a  Branch  of  the  Amazon — 
Ascent  of  the  Casiquiare 206 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

ROUTE  FROM  ESMERALDA  TO  ANGOSTURA. 

Mission  of  Esmeralda— Curare  Poison— Indians  — Duida  Mountain- 
Descent  of  the  Orinoco — Cave  of  Ataruipe — Raudalito  of  Carucari — 
Mission  of  Uruana — Character  of  the  Otomacs — Clay  eaten  by  the  Na- 
tives— Arrival  at  Angostura — The  Travellers  attacked  by  Fever — Fe- 
rocity of  the  Crocodiles 234 

CHAPTER  XX. 

JOURNEY  ACROSS   THE   LLANOS   TO   NEW-BARCELONA. 

Departure  from  Angostura— Village  of  Cari— Natives— New-Barcelona— 
Hot  Springs — Crocodiles — Passage  to  Cumana 248 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

PASSAGE   TO   HAVANA,   AND   RESIDENCE   IN   CUBA. 

Passage  from  New-Barcelona  to  Havana— Description  of  the  latter— Ex 
tent  of  Cuba— Geological  Constitution— Vegetation— Climate— Popula  • 


CONTENTS.  13 

lion — Agriculture — Exports — Preparations  for  Joining  Captain  Baudin'y 
Expedition— Journey  to  Batabano,  and  Voyage  to  Trinidad  de  Cuba  25* 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

VOYAGE  FROM  CUBA  TO  CARTHAGENA. 

Passage  from  Trinidad  of  Cuba  to  Carthagena— Description  of  the  laUer 
— Village  of  Turbaco — Air-volcanoes — Preparations  for  ascending  the 
RioMagdalena 266 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

BRIEF  ACCOUNT  OF  THE   JOURNEY  FROM  CARTHAGENA  TO 
QUITO  AND   MEXICO. 

Ascent  of  the  Rio  Magdalena— Santa  Fe  de  Bogota— Cataract  of  Tequen- 
dama— Natural  Bridges  of  Icononzo— Passage  of  Quindiu— Cargueros 
— Popayan — Quito — Cotopaxi  and  Chimborazo — Route  from  Quito  to 
Lima— Guayaquil— Mexico— Guanaxuato— Volcano  of  Jorullo— Pyra- 
mid of  Cholula 279 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

DESCRIPTION   OF   NEW-SPAIN   OR   MEXICO. 

General  Description  of  New- Spain  or  Mexico — Cordilleras— Climates 
— Mines-^-Ri  vers^  Lakes — S  oil-=- Volcan  oes-— Harbours — Popul  ation — 
Provinces — Valley  Of  Mexico,  and  Description  of  the  Capital — Inunda- 
tions, and  Works  undertaken  for  the  Purpose  of  preventing  them. .  297 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

STATISTICAL  ACCOUNT   OF   NEW-SPAIN   CONTINUED. 

Agriculture  of  Mexico— Banana,  Manioc,  and  Maize— Cereal  Plants- 
Nutritive  Roots  and  Vegetables — Agave  Americana — Colonial  Com- 
modities— Cattle,  and  Animal  Productions 325 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

MINES   OF   NEW-SPAIN. 

Mining  Districts — Metalliferous  Veins  and  Beds — Geological  Relations 
of  the  Ores — Produce  of  the  Mines — Recapitulation 338 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

PASSAGE  FROM  VERA  CRUZ  TO  CUBA  AND  PHILADELPHIA, 
AND   VOYAGE   TO   EUROPE. 

Departure  from  Mexico— Passage  fo  Havana  and  Philadelphia— Return 

to  Europe— Results  of  the  Journeys  in  America 347 

B 


14  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

JOURNEY   TO  ASIA. 

Brief  Account  of  Humboldt's  Journey  to  Asia,  with  a  Sketch  of  the  Four 
great  Chains  of  Mountains  which  intersect  the  central  Part  of  that 
Continent 352 


ENGRAVINGS. 

VIGNETTE— Basaltic  Rocks  and  Cascade  of  Regla. 

Dragon-tree  of  Orotava Page  42 

Humboldt's  Route  on  the  Orinoco 112 

Jaguar,  or  American  Tiger 183 

Air- volcanoes  of  Turbaco 274 

Costumes  of  the  Indians  of  Mechoacan 295 


THE 

TRAVELS    AND    RESEARCHES 

OF 

BARON    HUMBOLDT. 


CHAPTER  i.;; 

Introduction. 

Birth  and  Education  of  Humboldt — His  early  Occupations — He  resolves 
to  visit  Africa— Is  disappointed  in  his  Views,  and  goes  to  Madrid, 
where  he  is  introduced  to  the  King,  and  obtains  Permission  to  visit 
the  Spanish  Colonies — Observations  made  on  the  Journey  through 
Spain— Geological  Constitution  of  the  Country  between  Madrid  and 
Corurma — Climate — Ancient  Submersion  of  the  Shores  of  the  Medi- 
terranean— Reception  at  Corunna,  and  Preparations  for  the  Voyage  to 
South  America. 

WITH  the  name  of  Humboldt  we  associate  all  that 
is  interesting  in  the  physical  sciences.  No  travel- 
ler who  has  visited  remote  regions  of  the  globe,  for 
the  purpose  of  observing  the  varied  phenomena  of 
nature,  has  added  so  much  to  our  stock  of  positive 
knowledge.  While  the  navigator  has  explored  the 
coasts  of  unknown  lands,  discovered  islands  and 
shores,  marked  the  depths  of  the  sea,  estimated  the 
force  of  currents,  and  noted  the  more  obvious  traits 
in  the  aspect  of  the  countries  at  which  he  has 
touched;  while  the  zoologist -has  investigated  the 
multiplied  forms  of  animal  life,  the  botanist  the  di- 
versified vegetation,  the  geologist  the  structure  and 


16  INTRODUCTORY   REMARKS. 

relations  of  the  rocky  masses  of  which  the  exterior 
of  the  earth  is  composed ;  and  while  each  has  thus 
contributed  to  the  illustration  of  the  wonderful  con- 
stitution of  our  planet,  the  distinguished  traveller 
whose  discoveries  form  the  subject  of  this  volume 
stands  alone  as  uniting  in  himself  a  knowledge  of  all 
these  sciences.  Geography,  meteorology,  magnet- 
ism, the  distribution  of  heat,  the  various  depart- 
ments of  natural  history,  together  with  the  affinities 
of  races  and  languages,  the  history  of  nations,  the 
political  constitution  of  countries,  statistics,  com- 
merce, and  agriculture, — all  have  received  accumu- 
lated and  valuable  additions  from  the  exercise  of  his 
rare  talents.  The  narrative  of  no  traveller,  there- 
fore, could  be  more  interesting  to  the  man  of  varied 
information.  But  as  from  a  work  like  that  of  which 
the  present  volume  constitutes  a  part  subjects  strictly 
scientific  must  be  excluded,  unless  when  they  can 
be  treated  in  a  manner  intelligible  to  the  public  at 
large,  it  may  here  be  statfl^that  many  of  the  inves- 
tigations of  which  we  present  the  results  must  be 
traced  in  the  voluminous  works  which  the  author 
himself  has  published.  At  the  same  time  enough 
will  be  given  to  gratify  the  scientific  reader ;  and 
while  the  narrative  of  personal  adventure,  the  diver- 
sified phenomena  of  the  physical  world,  the  condi- 
tion of  societies,  and  the  numerous  other  subjects 
discussed,  will  afford  amusement  and  instruction,  let 
it  be  remembered  that  truths  faithfully  extracted 
from  the  book  of  nature  are  alone  calculated  to  en- 
large the  sphere  of  mental  vision ;  and  that,  while 
fanciful  description  is  more  apt  to  mislead  than  to 
direct  the  footsteps  of  the  student,  there  is  reflected 
from  the  actual  examination  of  the  material  universe 
a  light  which  never  fails  to  conduct  the  mind  at  once 
to  sure  knowledge  and  to  pious  sentiment. 

Frederick  Henry  Alexander  Von  Humboldt  was 
born  at  Berlin,  on  the  14th  of  September,  1769.  He 
received  his  academic  education  at  Gottingen  and 


BIRTH   AND   EDUCATION    OF    HUMBOLDT.         17 

Frankfort  on  the  Oder.  In  1790  he  ^isited  Holland 
and  England  in  company  with  Messrs.  George  Fors- 
ter  and  Van  Getms,  and  in  the  same  year  published 
his  first  work,  entitled  "  Observations  on  the  Basalts 
of  the  Rhine."  In  1791  he  went  to  Freyberg  to  re- 
ceive the  instructions  of  the  celebrated  Werner,  the 
fouiyler  of  geological  science.  The  results  of  some 
of  his  observations  in  the  mines  of  that  district 
were  published  in  1793,  under  the  title  of  Specimen 
Flora.  Fribergensis  Subterranean. 

Having  been  appointed  assessor  of  the  Council  of 
Mines  at  Berlin  in  1792,  and  afterward  director- 
general  of  the  mines  of  the  principalities  of  Bareith 
and  Anspach  in  Franconia,  he  directed  his  efforts  to 
the  formation  of  public  establishments  in  these  dis- 
tricts ;  but  in  1795  he  resigned  his  office  with  the 
view  of  travelling,  and  visited  part  of  Italy.  His 
active  and  comprehensive  mind  engaged  in  the  study 
of  all  the  physical  sciences ;  but  the  discoveries  of 
Galvani  seem  at  this  period  to  have  more  particularly- 
attracted  his  attention.  The  results  of  his  experi- 
ments on  animal  electricity  were  published  in  1796, 
with  notes  by  Professor  Blumenbach.  In  1795  he 
had  gone  to  Vienna,  where  he  remained  some  time, 
ardently  engaged  in  the  study  of  a  fine  collection  of 
exotic  plants  in  that  city.  He  travelled  through 
several  cantons  of  Salzburg  and  Styria  with  the 
celebrated  Von  Buch,  but  was  prevented  by  the  war 
which  then  raged  in  Italy  from  extending  his  journey 
to  that  country,  whither  he  was  anxious  to  proceed 
for  the  purpose  of  examining  the/  volcanic  districts 
of  Naples  and  Sicily.  Accompanied  by  his  brother 
William  Von  Humboldt  and  Mr.  Fischer,  he  then 
visited  Paris,  where  he  formed  an  acquaintance  with 
M.  Aime  Bonpland,  a  pupil  of  the  School  of  Medicine 
arid  Garden  of  Plants,  who,  afterward  becoming  his 
associate  in  travel,  has  greatly  distinguished  himself 
by  his  numerous  discoveries  in  botany. 

Humboldt,  from  his  earliest  youth,  had  cherished 
B2 


18  JOURNEY   TO    SPAIN. 

an  ardent  desire  to  travel  into  distant  regions  little 
known  to  Europeans;  and  having  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  resolved  to  visit  the  New  Continent,  he 
prepared  himself  by  examining  some  of  the  most 
interesting  parts  of  Europe,  that  he  might  be  enabled 
to  compare  the  geological  structure  of  these  two 
portions  of  the  globe,  and  acquire  a  practical  ac- 
quaintance with  the  instalments  best  adapted  for 
aiding  him  in  his  observations.  Fortunate  in  pos- 
sessing ample  pecuniary  resources,  he  did  not  expe- 
rience the  privations  which  have  disconcerted  the 
plans  and  retarded  the  progress  of  many  eminent 
individuals ;  but,  not  the  less  subject  to  unforeseen 
vicissitudes,  he  had  to  undergo  several  disappoint- 
ments that  thwarted  the  schemes  which,  like  all 
men  of  ardent  mind,  he  had  indulged  himself  in 
forming.  Meeting  with  a  person  passionately  fond 
of  the  fine  arts,  and  anxious  to  visit  Upper  Egypt,  he 
resolved  to  accompany  him  to  that  interesting  coun- 
try ;  but  political  events  interfered,  and  forced  him 
to  abandon  the  project.  The  knowledge  of  the 
monuments  of  the  more  ancient  nations  of  the  Old 
World,  which  he  acquired  at  this  period,  was  sub- 
sequently of  great  use  to  him  in  his  researches  in 
the  New  Continent.  An  expedition  of  discovery  to 
the  southern  hemisphere,  under  the  direction  of 
Captain  Baudin,  then  preparing  in  France,  and  \vith 
which  MM.  Michaux  and  Bonpland  were  to  be  asso- 
ciated as  naturalists,  held  out  to  him  the  hope  of 
gratifying  his  desire  of  exploring  unknown  regions. 
But  the  war  which  broke  out  in  Germany  and  Italy 
compelled  the  government  to  withdraw  the  funds 
allotted  to  this  enterprise.  Becoming  acquainted 
with  a  Swedish  consul  who  happened  to  pass  through 
Paris,  with  the  view  of  embarking  at  Marseilles  on 
a  mission  to  Algiers,  he  resolved  to  embrace  the 
opportunity  thus  offered  of  visiting  Africa,  in  order 
to  examine  the  lofty  chain  of  mountains  in  the  em- 
pire of  Morocco,  and  ultimately  to  join  the  body  of 


GEOLOGY  AND   CLIMATE   OF    SPAIN.  19 

scientific  men  attached  to  the  French  army  in  Egypt, 
Accompanied  by  his  friend  Bonpland,  he  therefore 
betook  himself  to  Marseilles,  where  he  waited  for 
two  months  the  arrival  of  the  frigate  which  was  to 
convey  the  consul  to  his  destination.  At  length, 
learning  that  this  vessel  had  been  injured  by  a 
storm,  he  resolved  to  pass  the  winter  in  Spain,  in 
hopes  of  finding  another  the  following  spring. 

On  his  way  to  Madrid,  he  determined  the  geo- 
graphical position  of  several  important  parts,  and 
ascertained  the  height  of  the  central  plain  of  Castile. 
In  March,  1799,  he  was  presented  at  the  court  of 
Aranjuez,  and  graciously  received  by  the  king,  to 
whom  he  explained  the  motives  which  induced  him 
to  undertake  a  voyage  to  the  New  Continent.  Be- 
ing .seconded  in  his  application  by  the  representa- 
tions of  an  enlightened  minister,  Don  Mariano  Luis 
de  Urquijo,  he  to  his  great  joy  obtained  leave  to  visit 
and  explore,  without  impediment  or  restriction,  all 
the  Spanish  territories  in  America.  The  impatience 
of  the  travellers  to  take  advantage  of  the  permission 
thus  granted  did  not  allow  them  to  bestow  much 
time  upon  preparations;  and  about  the  middle  of 
May  they  left  Madrid,  crossed  part  of  Old  Castile, 
Leon,  and  Galicia,  and  betook  themselves  to  Co- 
runna,  whence  they  were  to  sail  for  the  island  of 
Cuba. 

According  to  the  observations  made  by  our  travel- 
lers, the  interior  of  Spain  consists  of  an  elevated 
table-land,  formed  of  secondary  deposites, — sand- 
stone, gypsum,  rock-salt,  and  Jura  limestone.  The 
climate  of  the  Castiles  is  much  colder  than  that  of 
Toulon  and  Genoa,  its  mean  temperature  scarcely 
rising  to  59°  of  Fahrenheit's  thermometer.  The 
central  plain  is  surrounded  by  a  low  and  narrow  belt, 
in  several  parts  of  which  the  fan-palm,  the  date,  the 
sugar-cane,  the  banana,  and  many  plants  common  to 
Spain  and  the  north  of  Africa  vegetate,  without  suf- 
fering from  the  severity  of  the  winter.  In  the  space 


£0  ARRIVAL   AT    CORUNNA. 

included  between  the  parallels  of  thirty-six  and  forty 
degrees  of  north  latitude  the  mean  temperature 
ranges  from  62'6°  to  68'2°  Fahrenheit,  and  by  a  con- 
currence of  favourable  circumstances  this  section 
has  become  the  principal  seat  of  industry  and  intel- 
lectual cultivation. 

Ascending  from  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean, 
towards  the  elevated  plains  of  La  Mancha  and  the 
Castiles,  one  imagines  that  he  sees  far  inland,  in  the 
extended  precipices,  the  ancient  coast  of  the  Penin- 
sula ;  a  circumstance  which  brings  to  mind  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  Samothracians  and  certain  historical 
testimonies,  according  to  which  the  bursting  of  the 
waters  through  the  Dardanelles,  while  it  enlarged  the 
basin  of  the  Mediterranean,  overwhelmed  the  south- 
ern part  of  Europe.  The  high  central  plain  just  de- 
scribed would,  it  may  be  presumed,  resist  the  effects 
of  the  inundation  until  the  escape  of  the  waters  by 
the  strait  formed  between  the  Pillars  of  Hercules, 
had  gradually  lowered  the  level  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean, and  thereby  once  more  laid  bare  Upper  Egypt 
on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other,  the  fertile  valleys 
of  Tarfagon,  Valentia,  and  Murcia. 

From  Astorgato  Corunna  the  mountains  gradually 
rise,  the  sepondary  strata  disappear  by  degrees,  and 
the  transition  rocks  which  succeed  announce  the  prox- 
imity of  primitive  formations.  Large  mountains  of 
graywacke  and  graywacke-slate  present  themselves. 
In  the  vicinity  of  the  latter  town  are  granitic  sum- 
mits which  extend  to  4  Cape  Ortegal,  and  which 
might  seem,  with  those  of  Brittany  and  Cornwall,  to 
have  once  formed  a  chain  of  mountains  that  has 
been  broken  up  and  submersed.  This  rock  is  char- 
acterized by  large  and  beautiful  crystals  of  felspar, 
and  contains  tin-ore,  which  is  worked  with  much 
labour  and  little  profit  by  the  GaliCians. 

On  arriving  at  Corunna,  they  found  the  port  block- 
aded by  the  English,  for  the  purpose  of  interrupting 
the  communication  between  the  mother-country 


TEMPERATURE   OF    THE    SEA.  21 

and  the  American  colonies.  The  principal  secre- 
tary of  state  had  recommended  them  to  Don  Rafael 
Clavigo,  recently  appointed  director-general  of  the 
maritime  posts,  who  neglected  nothing  that  could 
render  their  residence  agreeable,  and  advised  them 
to  embark  on  board  the  corvette  Pizarro  bound  for 
Havana  and  Mexico.  Instructions  were  given  for 
the  safe  disposal  of  the  instruments,  and  the  captain 
was  ordered  to  stop  at  Teneriffe  so  long  as  should 
be  found  necessary  to  enable  the  travellers  to  visit 
the  port  of  Orotava  and  ascend  the  Peak. 

During  the  few  days  of  their  detention,  they  occu- 
pied themselves  in  preparing  the  plants  which  they 
had  collected  and  in  making  sundry  observations. 
Crossing  to  Ferrol  they  made  some  interesting  ex- 
periments on  the  temperature  of  the  sea  and  the 
decrease  of  heat  in  the  successive  strata  of  the 
water.  The  thermometer  on  the  bank  and  near  it 
was  from  54°  to  55'9°,  while  in  deep  water  it  stood 
at  59°  or  59-5°,  the  air  being  55°.  The  fact  that  the 
proximity  of  a  sand-bank  is  indicated  by  a  rapid 
descent  of  the  temperature  of  the  sea  at  its  surface 
is  of  great  importance  for  the  safety  of  navigators ; 
for,  although  the  use  of  the  thermometer  ought  not 
to  supersede  that  of  the  lead,  variations  of  tempera- 
ture indicative  of  danger  may  be  perceived  by  it  long 
before  the  vessel  reaches  the  shoal.  A  heavy  swell 
from  the  north-west  rendered  it  impossible  to  con- 
tinue their  experiments.  It  was  produced  by  a  storm 
at  sea,  and  obliged  the  English  vessels  to  retire  from 
the  coast, — a  circumstance  which  induced  our  trav- 
ellers speedily  to  embark  their  instruments  and  bag- 
gage, although  they  were  prevented  from  sailing  by 
a  high  westerly  wind,  that  continued  for  several  days. 


22  DEPARTURE    FROM   CORT7NNA. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Voyage  from  Corunna  to  Teneriffe. 

Departure  from  Corunna— Currents  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean— Marine  Ani- 
mals— Falling  Stars — Swallows — Canary  Islands^Lanceroia — Fucus 
vitifolius — Causes  of  the  Green  Colour  of  Plants — La  Graciosa — 
Stratified  Basalt  alternating  with  Marl— Hyalite— Quartz  Sand- 
Remarks  on  the  Distance  at  which  Mountains  are  visible  at  Sea,  and 
the  Causes  by  which  it  is  modified— Landing  at  Teneriffe. 

THE  wind  having  come  round  to  the  north-east, 
the  Pizarro  set  sail  on  the  afternoon  of  the  5th  of 
June,  1799,  and  after  working  out  of  the  narrow  pas- 
sage passed  the  Tower  of  Hercules,  or  lighthouse 
of  Corunna,  at  half-past  six.  Towards  evening  the 
wind  increased,  and  the  sea  ran  high.  They  directed 
their  course  to  the  north-west,  for  the  purpose  of 
avoiding  the  English  frigates  which  were  cruising 
off  the  coast,  and  about  nine  spied  the  fire  of  a  fish- 
ing-hut at  Lisarga,  which  was  the  last  object  they 
beheld  in  the  west  of  Europe.  As  they  advanced, 
the  light  mingled  itself  with  the  stars  which  rose  on 
the  horizon.  "  Our  eyes,"  says  Humboldt,  "  re- 
mained involuntarily  fixed  upon  it.  Such  impres- 
sions do  not  fade  from  the  memory  of  those  who 
have  undertaken  long  voyages  at  an  age  when  the 
emotions  of  the  heart  are  in  full  force.  How  many 
recollections  are  awakened  in  the  imagination  by  a 
luminous  point  which  in  the  middle  of  a  dark  night, 
appearing  at  intervals  above  the  agitated  waves, 
marks  the  shore  of  one's  native  land !" 

They  were  obliged  to  run  under  courses,  and  pro- 
ceeded at  the  rate  of  ten  knots,  although  the  vessel 
was  not  a  fast  sailer.  At  six  in  the  morning  she 
rolled  so  much  that  the  fore  topgallant-mast  was 
carried  away.  On  the  7th  they  were  in  the  latitude 


EQUINOCTIAL   CURRENT.  23 

of  Cape  Finisterre,  the  group  of  granitic  rocks  on 
which,  named  the  Sierra  de  Torinona,  is  visible  at 
sea  to  the  distance  of  59  miles.  On  the  8th,  at  sun- 
set, they  discovered  from  the  mast-head  an  English 
convoy ;  and  to  avoid  them  they  altered  their  course 
during  the  night.  On  the  9th  they  began  to  feel  the 
effects  of  the  great  current  which  flows  from  the 
Azores  towards  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  and  the 
Canaries.  Its  direction  was  at  .first  east-by-south; 
but  nearer  the  inlet  it  became  due  east,  and  its  force 
was  such  as,  between  37°  and  30°  lat.,  sometimes  to 
carry  the  vessel  in  twenty-four  hours  from  21  to  30 
miles  eastward. 

Between  the  tropics,  especially  from  the  coast  of 
Senegal  to  the  Caribbean  Sea,  there  is  a  stream  that 
always  flows  from  east  to  west,  and  which  is  named 
the  Equinoctial  Current.  Its  mean  rapidity  may  be 
estimated  at  ten  or  eleven  miles  in  twenty-four 
hours.  This  movement  of  the  waters,  which  is  also 
observed  in  the  Pacific  Ocean,  having  a  direction 
contrary  to  that  of  the  earth's  rotation,  is  supposed 
to  be  connected  with  the  latter  only  in  so  far  as  it 
changes  into  trade-winds  those  aerial  currents  from 
the  poles,  which,  in  the  lower  regions  of  the  atmo- 
sphere, carry  the  cold  air  of  the  high  latitudes  to- 
wards the  equator ;  and  it  is  to  the  general  impulse 
which  these  winds  give  to  the  surface  of  the  ocean 
that  the  phenomenon  in  question  is  to  be  attributed. 

This  current  carries  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic 
towards  the  Mosquito  and  Honduras  coasts,  from 
which  they  move  northwards,  .and.  passing  into  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  follow  the  bendings  of  the  shore 
from  Vera  Cruz  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  del  Norte, 
and  from  thence  to  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi 
and  the  shoals  at  the  southern  extremity  of  Florida. 
After  performing  this  circuit,  it  again  directs  itself 
northward,  rushing  with  great  impetuosity  through 
the  Straits  of  Bahama.  At  the  end  of  these  nar- 
rows, in  the  parallel  of  Cape  Canaveral,  the  flow, 


24  GULF-STREAM. 

which  rushes  onward  like  a  torrent,  sometimes  at 
the  rate  of  five  miles  an  hour,  runs  to  the  north-east. 
Its  velocity  diminishes  and  its  breadth  enlarges  as  it 
proceeds  northward.  Between  Cape  Biscayo  and 
the  Bank  of  Bahama  the  width  is  only  52  miles, 
while  in  28J°  of  lat.  it  is  59 ;  and  in  the  parallel  of 
Charleston," opposite  Cape  Henlopen,  it  is  from  138 
to  173  miles,  the  rapidity  being  from  three  to  five 
miles  an  hour  where  the  stream  is  narrow,  and  only 
one  mile  as  it  advances  towards  the  north.  To  the 
east  of  Boston  and  in  the  meridian  of  Halifax  the 
current  is  nearly  276  miles  broad.  Here  it  suddenly 
turns  towards  the  east ;  its  western  margin  touching 
the  extremity  of  the  great  bank  of  Newfoundland. 
From  this  to  the  Azores  it  continues  to  flow  to  the 
E.  and  E.S.E.,  still  retaining  part  of  the  impulse 
which  it  had  received  nearly  1150  miles  distant  in 
the  Straits  of  Florida.  In  the  meridian  of  the  Isles 
of  Corvo  and  Flores,  the  most  western  of  the  Azores, 
it  is  not  less  than  552  miles  in  breadth.  From  the 
Azores  it  directs  itself  towards  the  Straits  of  Gib- 
raltar, the  island  of  Madeira,  and  the  Canary  Isles. 
To  the  south  of  Madeira  we  can  distinctly  follow  its 
motion  to  the  S.E.  and  S.S.E.,  bearing  on  the  shores 
of  Africa,  between  Capes  Cantin  and  Bojador.  Cape 
Blanco,  which,  next  to  Cape  Verd,  farther  to  the 
south,  is  the  most  prominent  part  of  that  coast, 
seems  again  to  influence  the  direction  of  the  stream ; 
and  in  this  parallel  it  mixes  with  the  great  equinoc- 
tial current  as  already  described. 

In  this  manner  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic,  between 
the  parallels  of  11°  and  43°,  are  carried  round  in  a 
continual  whirlpool,  which  Humboldt  calculates  must 
take  two  years  and  ten  months  to  perform  its  cir- 
cuit of  13,118  miles.  This  great  current  is  named 
the  Gulf-stream.  Off  the  coast  of  Newfoundland  a 
branch  separates  from  it,  and  runs  from  S.W.  to 
N.E.  towards  the  coasts  of  Europe. 

From  Corunna  to  36°  of  latitude,  our  travellers  had 


MARINE   ANIMALS — MEDUSA.  25 

scarcely  seen  any  other  animals  than  terns  (or  sea- 
swallows)  and  a  few  dolphins ;  but  on  the  llth  June 
they  entered  a  zone  in  which  the  whole  sea  was 
covered  with  a  prodigious  quantity  of  medusae.  The 
vessel  was  almost  becalmed ;  but  the  molusca  ad- 
vanced towards  the  south-east  with  a  rapidity  equal 
to  four  times  that  of  the  current,  and  continued  to 
pass  nearly  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  after  which 
only  a  few  scattered  individuals  were  seen.  Among 
these  animals  they  recognised  the  Medusa  aurita  of 
Baster,  the  M.  pelagica  of  Bosc,  and  a  third  approach- 
ing in  its  characters  to  the  M.  hysocella,  which  is  dis- 
tinguished by  its  yellowish-brown  colour,  and  by 
having  its  tentacula  longer  than  the  body.  Several 
of  them  were  four  inches  in  diameter,  and  the  bright 
reflection  from  their  bodies  contrasted  pleasantly 
with  the  azure  tint  of  the  sea. 

On  the  morning  of  the  13th  June,  in  lat.  34°  33', 
they  observed  large  quantities  of  the  Dagysa  notata, 
of  which  several  had  been  seen  among  the  medusae, 
and  which  consist  of  little  transparent  gelatinous 
sacs,  extending  to  14  lines,  with  a  diameter  of  2  or 
3,  and  open  at  both  ends.  These  cylinders  are  lon- 
gitudinally agglutinated  like  the  cells  of  a  honey- 
comb, and  form  strings  from  six  to  eight  inches  in 
length.  They  observed,  after  it  became  dark,  that 
none  of  the  three  species  of  medusa  which  they  had 
collected  emitted  light  unless  they  were  slightly 
shaken.  When  a  very  irritable  individual  is  placed 
on  a  tin  plate,  and  the  latter  is  struck  with  a  piece  of 
metal,  the  vibrations  of  the  tin  are  sufficient  to  make 
the  animal  shine.  Sometimes,  on  galvanizing  me- 
dusae, the  phosphorescence  appears  at  the  moment 
when  the  chain  closes,  although  the  exciters  are  not 
in  direct  contact  with  the  body  of  the  subject.  The 
fingers,  after  touching  it,  remain  luminous  for  two 
or  three  minutes.  Wood,  on  being  rubbed  with  a 
medusa,  becomes  luminous,  and  after  the  phospho- 
rescence has  ceased,  it  may  be  rekindled  by  passing 
C 


26  FALLING    STARS. 

the  dry  hand  over  it ;  but  when  the  light  is  a  second 
time  extinguished  it  cannot  be  reproduced. 

Between  the  island  of  Madeira  and  the  coast  of 
Africa  they  were  struck  by  the  prodigious  quantity 
of  falling  stars,  which  continued  to  increase  as  they 
advanced  southward.  These  meteors,  Humboldt 
remarks,  are  more  common  and  more  luminous  in 
certain  regions  of  the  earth  than  in  others.  He 
has  nowhere  seen  them  more  frequent  than  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  volcanoes  of  Quito  and  in  that  part 
of  the  South  Sea  which  washes  the  shores  of  Gua- 
timala.  According  to  the  observations  of  Benzen- 
berg  and  Brandes,  many  falling  stars  noticed  in  Eu- 
rope were  only  63,950  yards,  or  a  little  more  than  36 
miles  high;  and  one  was  measured,  the  elevation 
of  which  did  not  exceed  29,843  yards,  or  about  17 
miles.  In  warm  climates,  and  especially  between 
the  tropics,  they  often  leave  behind  them  a  train 
which  remains  luminous  for  twelve  or  fifteen  seconds. 
At  other  times  they  seem  to  burst,  and  separate 
into  a  number  of  sparks.  They  are  generally  much 
lower  than  in  the  north  of  Europe.  These  meteors 
can  be  observed  only  when  the  sky  is  clear ;  and 
perhaps  none  has  ever  been  seen  beneath  a  cloud. 
According  to  the  observations  of  M.  Arago,  they  usu- 
ally follow  the  same  course  for  several  hours ;  and 
in  this  case  their  direction  is  that  of  the  wind. 

When  the  voyagers  were  138  miles  to  the  east  of 
Madeira,  a  common  swallow  (Hirundo  rustica)  perched 
on  the  topsail-yard,  and  was  caught.  What  could 
induce  a  bird,  asks  our  traveller,  to  fly  so  far  at  this 
season,  and  in  calm  weather  1  In  the  expedition  of 
Entrecasteaux,  a  swallow  was  also  seen  at  the  dis- 
tance of  207  miles  off  Cape  Blanco  ;  but  this  hap- 
pened about  the  end  of  October,  and  M.  Labillar- 
diere  imagined  that  it  had  newly  arrived  from 
Europe. 

The  Pizarro  had  been  ordered  to  touch  at  Lan- 
cerota,  one  of  the  Canaries,  to  ascertain  whether  the 


ISLAND    OF    LANCEROTA.  27 

harbour  of  Santa  Cruz  in  Teneriffe  was  blockaded 
by  the  English ;  and  on  the  16th,  in  the  afternoon, 
the  seamen  discovered  land,  which  proved  to  be 
that  island.  As  they  advanced  they  saw  first  the 
island  of  Forteventura,  famous  for  the  number  of 
camels  reared  upon  it,  and  soon  after  the  smaller 
one  of  Lobos.  Spending  part  of  the  night  on  deck, 
the  naturalists  viewed  the  volcanic  summits  of  Lan- 
cerota  illumined  by  the  moon,  and  enjoyed  the  beau- 
tiful serenity  of  the  atmosphere.  After  a  time,  great 
black  clouds,  rising  behind  the  volcano,  shrouded  at 
intervals  the  moon  and  the  constellation  of  Scorpio. 
They  observed  lights  carried  about  on  the  shore, 
probably  by  fishermen,  and  having  been  employed 
occasionally  during  their  passage  in  reading  some 
of  the  old  Spanish  voyages,  these  moving  fires  re- 
called to  their  imagination  those  seen  on  the  island 
of  Guanahani  on  the  memorable  night  of  the  dis- 
covery of  the  New  World. 

In  passing  through  the  archipelago  of  small  isl- 
ands situated  to  the  north  of  Lancerota,  they  were 
struck  by  the  configuration  of  the  coasts,  which  re- 
sembled the  banks  of  the  Rhine  near  Bonn.  It  is  a 
remarkable  circumstance,  our  author  observes,  that, 
while  the  forms  of  animals  and  plants  exhibit  the 
greatest  diversity  in  different  climates,  the  rocky- 
masses  present  the  same  appearances  in  both  hemi- 
spheres. In  the  Canary  Isles,  as  in  Auvergne,  in  the 
Mittelgebirge,  in  Bohemia,  in  Mexico,  and  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ganges,  the  trap  formation  displays  a 
symmetrical  arrangement  of  the  mountains,  ex- 
hibiting truncated  cones  and  graduated  platforms. 

The  whole  western  part  of  Lancerota  announces 
the  character  of  a  country  recently  deranged  by  vol- 
canic action,  every  part  being  black,  arid,  and  des- 
titute of  soil.  The  Abbe  Viera  relates  that  in  1730 
more  than  half  of  the  island  changed  its  appearance. 
The  great  volcano  ravaged  the  most  fertile  and  best- 
cultivated  district,  and  entirely  destroyed  nine  vil- 


28         COLOUR  OF  MARINE  PLANTS. 

lages.  Its  eruptions  were  preceded  by  an  earth- 
quake, and  violent  shocks  continued  to  be  felt  for 
several  years, — a  phenomenon  of  rare  occurrence, 
the  agitation  of  the  ground  usually  ceasing  after  a 
disengagement  of  lava  or  other  volcanic  products. 
The  summit  of  the  great  crater  is  rounded,  and  its 
absolute  height  does  not  appear  to  be  much  above 
1918  feet.  The  island  of  Lancerota  was  formerly 
named  Titeroigotra,  and  at  the  time  of  the  arrival 
of  the  Spaniards  its  inhabitants  were  more  civilized 
than  the  other  Canarians,  living  in  houses  built  of 
hewn  stone,  while  the  Guanches  of  Teneriffe  resided 
in  caves.  There  was  then  a  very  singular  institu- 
tion in  the  island.  The  women  had  several  hus- 
bands, each  of  whom  enjoyed  the  prerogative  be- 
longing to  the  head  of  a  family  in  succession,  the 
others  remaining  for  the  time  in  the  capacity  of 
common  domestics.* 

The  occurrence,  between  the  islands  of  Alegranza 
and  Montana  Clara  of  a  singular  marine  production, 
with  light-green  leaves,  which  was  brought  up  by 
the  lead  from  a  great  depth,  affords  our  author,  in 
his  narrative,  an  opportunity  of  stating  some  inter- 
esting facts  respecting  the  colouring  of  plants.  This 
seaweed,  growing  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  at  a 
depth  of  205  feet,  had  its  vine-shaped  leaves  as 
green  as  those  of  our  gramineae.  According  to  Bou- 
guer's  experiments,  light  is  weakened  after  a  passage 
of  192  feet,  in  the  proportion  of  1  to  1477'8.  At  the 
depth  of  205  this  fucus  could  only  have  had  light 

*  A  similar  practice  is  stated  by  Mr.  Fraser  in  his  "  Journal  of  a  Tour 
through  the  Himala  Mountains,"  p.  206,  to  occur  in  several  of  the  hill 
provinces  of  India.  "It  is  usual  all  over  the  country  for  the  future  hus- 
band to  purchase  his  wife  from  her  parents;  and  the  sum  thus  paid 
varies  of  course  with  the  rank  of  the  purchaser.  The  difficulty  of  rais- 
ing this  sum,  and  the  alleged  expense  of  maintaining  women,  may  in 
part  account  tor,  if  it  cannot  excuse,  a  most  disgusting  usage,  which  is 
universal  over  the  country.  Three  or  four  or  more  brothers  marry  and 
cohabit  with  one  woman,  who  is  the  wife  of  all.  They  are  unable  to 
raise  the  requisite  sum  individually,  aud  thus  club  their  shares,  and  buy 
this  one  common  spouse." 


LA   GRACIOSA.  29 

equal  to  half  of  that  supplied  by  a  candle  seen  at 
the  distance  of  a  foot.  The  germs  of  several  of 
the  liliaceae,  the  embryo  of  the  mallows  and  other 
families,  the  branches  of  some  subterranean  plants, 
and  vegetables  transported  into  mines  in  which  the 
air  contains  hydrogen  or  a  great  quantity  of  azote, 
become  green  without  light.  From  these  facts  one 
might  be  induced  to  think  that  the  existence  of  car- 
buret of  iron,  which  gives  the  green  colour  to  the 
parenchmay  of  plants,  is  not  dependent  upon  the 
presence  of  the  solar  rays  only.  Turner  and  many 
other  botanists  are  of  opinion  that  most  of  the  sea- 
weeds which  we  find  floating  on  the  ocean,  and  which 
in  certain  parts  of  the  Atlantic  present  the  appear- 
ance of  a  vast  inundated  meadow,  grow  originally 
at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  are  torn  off  by  the 
waves.  If  this  opinion  be  correct,  the  family  of 
marine  algae  presents  great  difficulties  to  those  physi- 
ologists who  persist  in  thinking  that,  in  all  cases, 
the  absence  of  light  must  produce  blanching. 

The  captain,  having  mistaken  a  basaltic  rock  for 
a  castle,  saluted  it,  and  sent  one  of  the  officers  to 
inquire  if  the  English  were  cruising  in  those  parts. 
Our  travellers  took  advantage  of  the  boat  to  examine 
the  land,  which  they  had  regarded  as  a  prolongation 
of  the  coasts  of  Lancerota,  but  which  turned  out  to 
be  the  small  island  of  La  Graciosa.  "  Nothing," 
says  Humboldt,  "  can  express  the  emotion  a  natu- 
ralist feels  when  for  the  first  time  he  lands  in  a  place 
which  is  not  European.  The  attention  is  fixed  upon 
so  many  objects,  that  one  can  hardly  give  an  ac- 
count of  the  impressions  which  he  receives.  At 
every  step  he  imagines  that  he  finds  a  new  produc- 
tion ;  and  in  the  midst  of  this  agitation  he  often  does 
not  recognise  those  which  are  most  common  in  our 
botanical  gardens  and  museums."  A  fisherman, 
who,  having  been  frightened  by  the  firing,  had  fled 
from  them,  but  whom  the  sailors  overtook,  stated 
that  no  vessels  had  been  seen  for  several  weeks. 
C2 


30  BASALT   ALTERNATING   WITH   MARL. 

The  rocks  of  this  small  island  were  of  basalt  and 
marl,  destitute  of  trees  or  shrubs,  in  most  places 
without  a  trace  of  soil,  and  but  scantily  crusted  with 
lichens. 

The  basalts  are  not  columnar,  but  arranged  in 
strata  from  10  to  16  inches  thick,  and  incline  to  the 
north-west  at  an  angle  of  80  degrees,  alternating 
with  marl.  Some  of  these  strata  are  compact,  and 
contain  large  crystals  of  foliated  olivine,  often  porous, 
with  oblong  cavities,  from  two  to  eight  lines  in  di- 
ameter, which  are  coated  with  calcedony,  and  en- 
close fragments  of  compact  basalt.  The  marl,  which 
alternates  more  than  a  hundred  times  with  the  trap, 
is  of  a  yellowish  colour,  extremely  friable,  very 
tenacious  internally,  and  often  divided  into  regular 
prisms  like  those  of  basalt.  It  contains  much  lime, 
and  effervesces  strongly  with  muriatic  acid.  The 
travellers  had  not  time  to  reach  the  summit  of  a  hill, 
the  base  of  which  was  formed  of  clay,  with  layers 
of  basalt  resting  on  it,  precisely  as  in  the  Schneiben- 
berger  Huegel  of  Saxony.  These  rocks  were  cov- 
ered with  hyalite,  of  which  they  procured  several 
fine  specimens,  leaving  masses  eight  or  ten  inches 
square  untouched. 

On  the  shore  there  were  two  kinds  of  sand,  the 
one  black  and  basaltic,  the  other  white  and  quartzy. 
Exposed  to  the  sun's  rays  the  thermometer  rose  in 
the  former  to  124'2°,  and  in  the  latter  to  104°;  while 
in  the  shade  the  temperature  of  the  air  was  81 '5°, 
being  14°  higher  than  the  sea  air.  The  quartzy  sand 
contains  fragments  of  felspar.  Pieces  of  granite 
have  been  observed  at  Teneriffe  ;  and  the  island  of 
Gomera,  according  to  M.  Broussonet,  contains  a  nu- 
cleus of  mica-slate.  From  these  facts  Humboldt 
infers  that  in  the  Canaries,  as  in  the  Andes  of  Quito, 
in  Auvergne,  Greece,  and  most  parts  of  the  globe, 
the  subterranean  fires  have  made  their  way  through 
primitive  rocks. 
Having  re-embarked,  they  hoisted  sail,  and  en- 


ROCA   DEL    OESTE.  31 

deavoured  to  get  out  again  by  the  strait  which  sep- 
arates Alegranza  from  Montana  Clara ;  but,  the  wind 
having  fallen,  the  currents  drove  them  close  upon  a 
rock  marked  in  old  charts  by  the  name  of  Infierno, 
and  in  modern  ones  under  that  of  Roca  del  Oeste, — 
a  basaltic  mass  which  has  probably  been  raised  by 
volcanic  agency.  Tacking  during  the  night  between 
Montana  Clara  and  this  islet,  they  were  several 
times  in  great  danger  among  shelves  towards  which 
they  were  drawn  by  the  motion  of  the  water ;  but 
the  wind  freshening  in  the  morning,  they  succeeded 
in  passing  the  channel,  and  sailed  along  the  coasts 
of  Lancerota,  Lobos,  and  Forteventura. 

The  haziness  of  the  atmosphere  prevented  them 
from  seeing  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe  during  the  whole 
of  their  passage  from  Lancerota ;  but  our  traveller, 
in  his  narrative,  states  the  following  interesting  cir- 
cumstances relative  to  the  distance  at  which  moun- 
tains may  be  seen.  If  the  height  of  the  Peak,  he 
says,  is  12,182  feet,  as  indicated  by  the  last  trigono- 
metrical measurement  of  Borda,  its  summit  ought 
to  be  visible  at  the  distance  of  148  miles,  supposing 
the  eye  at  the  level  of  the  ocean,  and  the  refraction 
equal  to  0*079  of  the  distance.  Navigators  who  fre- 
quent these  latitudes  find  that  the  peaks  of  Teneriffe 
and  the  Azores  are  sometimes  observed  at  very  great 
distances,  while  at  other  times,  they  cannot  be  seen 
when  the  interval  is  considerably  less,  although  the 
sky  is  clear.  Such  circumstances  are  of  importance 
to  navigators,  who,  in  returning  to  Europe,  impa- 
tiently wait  for  a  sight  of  these  mountains  to  rectify 
their  longitude.  The  constitution  of  the  atmosphere 
has  a  great  influence  on  the  visibility  of  distant  ob- 
jects, the  transparency  of  the  air  being  much  in- 
creased when  a  certain  quantity  of  water  is  uni- 
formly diffused  through  it. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe 
should  be  less  frequently  visible  at  a  great  distance 
than  the  tops  of  the  Andes,  riot  being  like  them  in- 


32  DISTANCE   AT    WHICH   MOUNTAINS 

vested  with  perpetual  snow.  The  Sugar-loaf  which 
constitutes  the  summit  of  the  former  no  doubt  re- 
flects a  great  degree  of  light,  on  account  of  the  white 
colour  of  the  pumice  with  which  it  is  covered ;  but 
its  height  does  not  form  a  twentieth  part  of  the  total 
elevation,  and  the  sides  of  the  volcano  are  coated 
with  blocks  of  dark-coloured  lava,  or  with  luxuriant 
vegetation,  the  masses  of  which  reflect  little  light, 
the  leaves  of  the  trees  being  separated  by  shadows 
of  greater  extent  than  the  illuminated  parts. 

Hence  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe  is  to  be  referred  to 
the  class  of  mountains  which  are  seen  at  great  dis- 
tances only  in  what  Bouguer  calls  a  negative  man- 
ner, or  because  they  intercept  the  light  transmitted 
from  the  extreme  limits  of  the  atmosphere  ;  and  we 
perceive  4heir  existence  only  by  means  of  the  dif- 
ference of  intensity  that  subsists  between  the  light 
which  surrounds  them,  and  that  reflected  by  the  par- 
ticles of  air  placed  between  the  object  of  vision  and 
the  observer.  In  receding  from  Teneriffe,  the  Sugar- 
loaf  is  long  seen  in  a  positive  manner,  as  it  reflects 
a  whitish  light,  and  detaches  itself  clearly  from  the 
sky ;  but  as  this  terminal  cone  is  only  512  feet  high, 
by  256  in  breadth  at  its  summit,  it  has  been  ques- 
tioned whether  it  can  be  visible  beyond  the  distance 
of  138  miles.  If  it  be  admitted  that  the  mean  breadth 
of  the  Sugar-loaf  is  639J  feet,  it  will  still  subtend,  at 
the  distance  now  named^  an  angle  of  more  than  three 
minutes,  which  is  enough  to  render  it  visible ;  and 
were  the  height  of  the  cone  greatly  to  exceed  its 
basis,  the  angle  might  be  still  less,  and  the  mass  yet 
make  an  impression  on  our  organs ;  for  it  has  been 
proved  by  micrometrical  observations,  that  the  limit 
of  vision  is  one  minute  only  when  the  dimensions 
of  objects  are  the  same  in  all  directions. 

As  the  visibility  of  an  object,  which  detaches  it- 
self from  the  sky  of  a  brown  colour,  depends  on  the 
quantities  of  light  the  eye  meets  in  two  lines,  of 
which  one  ends  at  the  mountain  and  the  other  is 


MAY   BE    SEEN  AT   SEA.  33 

prolonged  to  the  surface  of  the  aerial  ocean,  it  fol- 
lows that  the  farther  we  remove  from  the  object 
the  less  also  becomes  the  difference  between  the 
light  of  the  surrounding  atmosphere  and  that  of  the 
strata  of  air  placed  before  the  mountain.  For  this 
reason,  when  summits  of  low  elevation  begin  to  ap- 
pear above  the  horizon,  they  are  of  a  darker  tint 
than  those  more  elevated  ones  which  we  discover  at 
very  great  distances.  In  like  manner,  the  visibility 
of  mountains  which  are  only  negatively  perceived 
does  not  depend  solely  upon  the  state  of  the  low 
regions  of  the  air,  to  which  our  meteorological  ob- 
servations are  confined,  but  also  upon  its  transpa- 
rency and  physical  constitution  in  the  most  elevated 
parts ;  for  the  image  is  more  distinctly  detached, 
the  more  intense  the  aerial  light  which  comes  from 
the  limits  of  the  atmosphere  has  originally  been,  or 
the  less  it  has  lost  in  its  passage.  This  in  a  certain 
degree  accounts  for  the  circumstance  that  the  Peak 
is  sometimes  visible  and  sometimes  invisible  to 
navigators  who  are  equally  distant  from  it,  when 
the  state  of  the  thermometer  and  hygrometer  is  pre- 
cisely the  same  in  the  lower  stratum  of  air.  It  is 
even  probable  that  the  chance  of  perceiving  this 
volcano  would  not  be  greater  were  the  cone  equal, 
as  in  Vesuvius,  to  a  fourth  part  of  the  whole  height. 
The  ashes  spread  upon  its  surface  do  not  reflect  so 
much  light  as  the  snow  with  which  the  summits  of 
the  Andes  are  covered  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  make 
the  mountain,  when  seen  from  a  great  distance,  be- 
come more  obscurely  detached,  and  assume  a  brown 
tint.  They  contribute,  as  it  were,  to  equalize  the 
portions  of  aerial  light,  the  variable  difference  of 
which  renders  the  object  more  or  less  distinctly  vis- 
ible. Bare  calcareous  mountains,  summits  covered 
with  granitic  sand,  and  the  elevated  savannas  of  the 
Andes,  which  are  of  a  bright  yellow  colour,  are  more 
clearly  seen  at  small  distances  than  objects  that  are 
perceived  only  in  a  negative  manner;  but  theory 


34  SANTA   CRUZ. 

points  out  a  limit  beyond  which  the  latter  are  more 
distinctly  detached  from  the  azure  vault  of  the  sky. 

The  aerial  light  projected  on  the  tops  of  hills  in- 
creases the  visibility  of  those  which  are  seen  posi- 
tively, but  diminishes  that  of  such  as  are  detached 
with  a  brown  colour.  Bouguer,  proceeding  on  theo- 
retical data,  has  found  that  mountains  which  are  seen 
negatively  cannot  be  perceived  at  distances  exceed- 
ing 121  miles  ;  but  experience  goes  against  this  con- 
clusion. The  Peak  of  Teneriffe  has  often  been  ob- 
served at  the  distance  of  124,  131,  and  even  138 
miles  ;  and  the  summit  of  Mowna-Roa  in  the  Sand- 
wich Isles,  which  is  probably  16,000  feet  high,  has 
been  seen,  at  a  period  when  it  was  destitute  of  snow, 
skirting  the  horizon  from  a  distance  of  183  miles. 
This  is  the  most  striking  example  yet  known  of  the 
visibility  of  high  land,  and  is  the  more  remarkable 
that  the  object  was  negatively  seen. 

The  atmosphere  continuing  hazy,  the  navigators 
did  not  discover  the  island  of  Grand  Canary,  not- 
withstanding its  height,  until  the  evening  of  the  18th 
June,  On  the  following  day  they  saw  the  point  of 
Naga,  but  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe  still  remained  in- 
visible. After  repeatedly  sounding,  on  account  of  the 
thickness  of  the  mist,  they  anchored  in  the  road  of 
Santa  Cruz,  when  at  the  moment  they  began  to  salute 
the  place  the  fog  instantaneously  dispersed,  and  the 
Peak  of  Teyde,  illuminated  by  the  first  rays  of  the 
sun,  appeared  in  a  break  above  the  clouds.  Our 
travellers  betook  themselves  to  the  bow  of  the  ves- 
sel to  enjoy  the  majestic  spectacle,  when,  at  the  very 
moment,  four  English  ships  were  seen  close  astern. 
The  anchor  was  immediately  got  up,  and  the  Pizarro 
stood  in  as  close  as  possible,  to  place  herself  under 
the  protection  of  the  fort. 

While  waiting  the  governor's  permission  to  land, 
Humboldt  employed  the  time  in  making  observations 
for  determining  the  longitude  of  the  mole  of  Santa 
Cruz  and  the  dip  of  the  needle.  Berthoud's  chro- 


SANTA   CRUZ    OF    TENERIFFE.  35 

nometer  gave  18°  33'  10",  the  accuracy  of  which  re- 
sult, although  differing  from  the  longitude  assigned 
by  Cook  and  others,  was  afterward  confirmed  by 
Krusenstern,  who  found  that  port  16°  12'  45"  west 
of  Greenwich,  and  consequently  18°  33'  west  of 
Paris.  The  dip  of  the  magnetic  needle  was  62°  24', 
although  it  varied  considerably  in  different  places 
along  the  shore.  After  undergoing  the  fatigue  of 
answering  the  numberless  questions  proposed  by 
persons  who  visited  them  on  board,  our  travellers 
were  at  length  permitted  to  land. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Island  of  Teneriffe. 

Santa  Cruz— Villa  de  la  Laguna— Guanches— Present  Inhabitants  of 
Teneriffe— Climate—  Scenery  of  the  Coast— Orotava— Dragon-tree- 
Ascent  of  the  Peak — Its  Geological  Character — Eruptions — Zones  of 
Vegetation — Fires  of  St.  John. 

SANTA  CRUZ,  the  Anaja  of  the  Guanches,  which  is 
a  neat  town,  with  a  population  of  8000  persons,  may 
be  considered  as  a  great  caravansera  situated  on  the 
road  to  America  and  India,  and  has  consequently 
been  often  described.  The  recommendations  of  the 
court  of  Madrid  procured  for  our  travellers  the  most 
satisfactory  reception  in  the  Canaries.  The  cap- 
tain-general gave  permission  to  examine  the  island, 
and  Colonel  Armiaga,  who  commanded  a  regiment 
of  infantry,  extended  his  hospitality  to  them,  and 
showed  the  most  polite  attention.  In  his  garden 
they  admired  the  banana,  the  papaw,  and  other  plants 
cultivated  in  the  open  air,  which  they  had  before 
seen  only  in  hothouses. 

In  the  evening  they  made  a  botanical  excursion 


34  SANTA   CRTIZ. 

points  out  a  limit  beyond  which  the  latter  are  more 
distinctly  detached  from  the  azure  vault  of  the  sky. 

The  aerial  light  projected  on  the  tops  of  hills  in- 
creases the  visibility  of  those  which  are  seen  posi- 
tively, but  diminishes  that  of  such  as  are  detached 
with  a  brown  colour.  Bouguer,  proceeding  on  theo- 
retical data,  has  found  that  mountains  which  are  seen 
negatively  cannot  be  perceived  at  distances  exceed- 
ing 121  miles  ;  but  experience  goes  against  this  con- 
clusion. The  Peak  of  Teneriffe  has  often  been  ob- 
served at  the  distance  of  124,  131,  and  even  138 
miles  ;  and  the  summit  of  Mowna-Roa  in  the  Sand- 
wich Isles,  which  is  probably  16,000  feet  high,  has 
been  seen,  at  a  period  when  it  was  destitute  of  snow, 
skirting  the  horizon  from  a  distance  of  183  miles. 
This  is  the  most  striking  example  yet  known  of  the 
visibility  of  high  land,  and  is  the  more  remarkable 
that  the  object  was  negatively  seen. 

The  atmosphere  continuing  hazy,  the  navigators 
did  not  discover  the  island  of  Grand  Canary,  not- 
withstanding its  height,  until  the  evening  of  the  18th 
June,  On  the  following  day  they  saw  the  point  of 
Naga,  but  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe  still  remained  in- 
visible. After  repeatedly  sounding,  on  account  of  the 
thickness  of  the  mist,  they  anchored  in  the  road  of 
Santa  Cruz,  when  at  the  moment  they  began  to  salute 
the  place  the  fog  instantaneously  dispersed,  and  the 
Peak  of  Teyde,  illuminated  by  the  first  rays  of  the 
sun,  appeared  in  a  break  above  the  clouds.  Our 
travellers  betook  themselves  to  the  bow  of  the  ves- 
sel to  enjoy  the  majestic  spectacle,  when,  at  the  very 
moment,  four  English  ships  were  seen  close  astern. 
The  anchor  was  immediately  got  up,  and  the  Pizarro 
stood  in  as  close  as  possible,  to  place  herself  under 
the  protection  of  the  fort. 

While  waiting  the  governor's  permission  to  land, 
Humboldt  employed  the  time  in  making  observations 
for  determining  the  longitude  of  the  mole  of  Santa 
Cruz  and  the  dip  of  the  needle.  Berthoud's  chro- 


SANTA   CRUZ    OF    TENERIFFE.  35 

nometer  gave  18°  33'  10",  the  accuracy  of  which  re- 
sult, although  differing  from  the  longitude  assigned 
by  Cook  and  others,  was  afterward  confirmed  by 
Krusenstern,  who  found  that  port  16°  12'  45"  west 
of  Greenwich,  and  consequently  18°  33'  west  of 
Paris.  The  dip  of  the  magnetic  needle  was  62°  24', 
although  it  varied  considerably  in  different  places 
along  the  shore.  After  undergoing  the  fatigue  of 
answering  the  numberless  questions  proposed  by 
persons  who  visited  them  on  board,  our  travellers 
were  at  length  permitted  to  land. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Island  of  Teneriffe. 

Santa  Craz— Villa  de  la  Laguna— Guanches— Present  Inhabitants  of 
Teneriffe— Climate — Scenery  of  the  Coast — Orotava— Dragon-tree — 
Ascent  of  the  Peak — Its  Geological  Character — Eruptions — Zones  of 
Vegetation— Fires  of  fet.  John. 

SANTA  CRUZ,  the  Anaja  of  the  Guanches,  which  is 
a  neat  town,  with  a  population  of  8000  persons,  may 
be  considered  as  a  great  caravansera  situated  on  the 
road  to  America  and  India,  and  has  consequently 
been  often  described.  The  recommendations  of  the 
court  of  Madrid  procured  for  our  travellers  the  most 
satisfactory  reception  in  the  Canaries.  The  cap- 
tain-general gave  permission  to  examine  the  island, 
and  Colonel  Armiaga,  who  commanded  a  regiment 
of  infantry,  extended  his  hospitality  to  them,  and 
showed  the  most  polite  attention.  In  his  garden 
they  admired  the  banana,  the  papaw,  and  other  plants 
cultivated  in  the  open  air,  which  they  had  before 
seen  only  in  hothouses. 

In  the  evening  they  made  a  botanical  excursion 


36  VILLA   PE    LA    LAG  UNA. 

towards  the  fort  of  Passo  Alto,  along  the  basaltic 
rocks  which  close  the  promontory  of  Naga,  but  had 
little  success,  as  the  drought  and  dust  had  in  a 
manner  destroyed  the  vegetation.  The  Cacalia 
Hernia,  Euphorbia  canariensis,  and  other  succulent 
plants,  which  derive  their  nourishment  more  from 
the  air  than  from  the  soil,  reminded  them  by  their 
aspect  that  the  Canaries  belong  to  Africa,  and  even 
to  the  most  arid  part  of  that  continent. 

The  captain  of  the  Pizarro,  having  apprized  them 
that,  on  account  of  the  blockade  by  the  English, 
they  ought  not  to  reckon  upon  a  longer  stay  than 
four  or  five  days,  they  hastened  to  set  out  for  the 
port  of  Orotava,  where  they  might  find  guides  for 
the  ascent  of  the  Peak ;  and  on  the  20th,  before 
sunrise,  they  were  on  the  way  to  Villa  de  la  Laguna, 
which  is  2238  feet  higher  than  the  port  of  Santa 
Cruz.  The  road  to  this  place  is  on  the  right  of  a 
torrent,  which,  in  the  rainy  season,  forms  beautiful 
falls.  Near  the  town  they  met  with  some  white 
camels,  employed  in  transporting  merchandise. 
These  animals,  as  well  as  horses,  were  introduced 
into  the  Canary  Islands  in  the  fifteenth  century 
by  the  Norman  conquerors,  and  were  unknown  to 
the  Guanches.  Camels  are  more  abundant  in  Lan- 
cerota  and  Forteventura,  which  are  nearer  the  con- 
tinent, than  at  Teneriffe,  where  they  very  seldom 
propagate. 

The  hill  on  which  the  Villa  de  la  Laguna  stands 
belongs  to  the  series  of  basaltic  mountains  which 
forms  a  girdle  around  the  Peak,  and  is  independent 
of  the  newer  volcanic  rocks.  The  basalt  on  which 
the  travellers  walked  was  blackish-brown,  compact, 
and  partially  decomposed.  They  found  in  it  horn- 
blende, olivine,  and  transparent  pyroxene,  with  la- 
mellar fracture,  of  an  olive-green  tint,  and  often 
crystallized  in  six-sided  prisms.  The  rock  of  La- 
guna is  not  columnar,  but  divided  into  thin  beds,  in- 
clined at  an  angle  of  from  30°  to  48°,  and  has  no 


VILLA    DE    LA    LACUNA.  37 

appearance  of  having  been  formed  by  a  current  of 
lava  from  the  Peak.  Some  arborescent  Euphorbias, 
Cacalia  kleinia,  and  Cacti,  were  the  only  plants  ob- 
served on  these  parched  acclivities.  The  mules 
slipped  at  every  step  on  the  inclined  surfaces  of  the 
rock  although  traces  of  an  old  road  were  observ- 
able, which,  with  the  numerous  other  indications  that 
occur  in  these  colonies,  afford  evidence  of  the  ac- 
tivity displayed  by  the  Spanish  nation  in  the  six- 
teenth century. 

The  heat  of  Santa  Cruz,  which  is  suffocating,  is 
in  a  great  measure  to  be  attributed  to  the  reverbera- 
tion of  the  rocks  in  its  vicinity ;  but  as  the  travellers 
approached  Laguna  they  became  sensible  of  a  very 
pleasant  diminution  of  temperature.  In  fact,  the 
perpetual  coolness  which  exists  here  renders  it  a 
delightful  residence.  It  is  situated  in  a  small  plain, 
surrounded  by  gardens,  and  commanded  by  a  hill 
crowned  with  the  laurel,  the  myrtle,  and  the  arbutus. 
The  rain,  in  collecting,  forms  from  time  to  time  a 
kind  of  large  pool  or  marsh,  which  has  induced 
travellers  to  describe  the  capital  of  Teneriffe  as 
situated  on  the  margin  of  a  lake.  The  town,  which 
was  deprived  of  its  opulence  in  consequence  of  the 
port  of  Garachico  having  been  destroyed  by  the 
lateral  eruptions  of  the  volcano,  has  only  9000  in- 
habitants, of  which  about  400  are  monks.  It  is  sur- 
rounded by  numerous  windmills  for  corn.  Hum- 
boldt  observes  that  the  cereal  grasses  were  known 
to  the  original  inhabitants,  and  that  parched  barley- 
flour  and  goats'  milk  formed  their  principal  meals. 
This  food  tends  to  show  that  they  were  connected 
with  the  nations  of  the  old  continent,  perhaps  even 
with  those  of  the  Caucasian  race,  and  not  with  the 
inhabitants  of  the  New  World,  who,  previous  to  the 
arrival  of  the  Europeans  among  them,  had  no  know- 
ledge of  grain,  milk,  or  cheese. 

The  Canary  Islands  were  originally  inhabited  by 
a  people  famed  for  their  tall  stature,  and  known  by 
D 


40  SCENERY. 

although  the  cold  may  be  two  degrees  below  zero. 
Trees  growing  in  a  fertile  soil  are  remarked  by  cul- 
tivators to  be  less  delicate,  and  less  affected  by 
changes  of  temperature,  than  those  planted  in  land 
that  affords  little  nutriment. 

From  Laguna  to  the  port  of  Orotava  and  the 
western  coast  of  Teneriffe  the  route  is  at  first  over 
a  hilly  country,  covered  by  a  black  argillaceous  soil. 
The  subjacent  rock  is  concealed  by  layers  of  ferru- 
ginous earth ;  but  in  some  of  the  ravines  are  seen 
columnar  basalts,  with  recent  conglomerates,  re- 
sembling volcanic  tufas  lying  over  them,  which  con- 
tain fragments  of  the  former,  and  also,  as  is  asserted,' 
marine  petrifactions.  This  delightful  country,  of 
which  travellers  of  all  nations  speak  with  enthu- 
siasm, is  entered  by  the  valley  of  Tacoronte,  and  pre  - 
sents  scenes  of  unrivalled  beauty.  The  seashore  is 
ornamented  with  palms  of  the  date  and  cocoa  spe- 
cies. Farther  up,  groups  of  musa?  and  dragon-trees 
present  themselves.  The  declivities  are  covered 
with  vines.  Orange-trees,  myrtles,  and  cypresses 
surround  the  chapels  that  have  been  raised  on  the 
little  hills.  The  lands  are  separated  by  enclosures 
formed  of  the  agave  and  cactus.  Multitudes  of 
cryptogamic  plants,  especially  ferns,  cover  the  walls. 
In  winter,  while  the  volcano  is  wrapped  in  snow, 
there  is  continued  spring  in  this  beautiful  district ; 
and  in  summer,  towards  evening,  the  sea-breezes 
diffuse  a  gentle  coolness  over  it.  From  Tegueste 
and  Tacoronte  to  the  village  of  San  Juan  de  la  Ram- 
bla,  the  coast  is  cultivated  like  a  garden,  and  might 
be  compared  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Capua  or  Va- 
lentia ;  but  the  western  part  of  Teneriffe  is  much 
more  beautiful,  on  account  of  the  proximity  of  the 
Peak,  the  sight  of  which  has  a  most  imposing  effect, 
and  excites  the  imagination  to  penetrate  into  the 
mysterious  source  of  volcanic  action.  For  thou- 
sands of  years  no  light  has  been  observed  at  the 
summit  of  the  mountain,  and  yet  enormous  lateral 


DURASNO OROTAVA.  41 

eruptions,  the  last  of  which  happened  in  1798,  prove 
the  activity  of  a  fire  which  is  far  from  being  extinct. 
There  is,  besides,  something  melancholy  in  the  sight 
of  a  crater  placed  in  the  midst  of  a  fertile  and  highly- 
cultivated  country. 

Pursuing  their  course  to  the  port  of  Orotava,  the 
travellers  passed  the  beautiful  hamlets  of  Matanza 
and  Vitioria  (slaughter  and  victory), — names  which 
occur  together  in  all  the  Spanish  colonies,  and  pre- 
sent a  disagreeable  contrast  to  the  feelings  of  peace 
and  quiet  which  these  countries  inspire.  On  their 
way  they  visited  a  botanic  garden  at  Durasno,  where 
they  found  M.  Le  Gros,  the  French  vice-consul,  who 
subsequently  served  as  an  excellent  guide  to  the 
Peak.  The  idea  of  forming  such  an  establishment 
at  Teneriffe  originated  with  the  Marquis  de  Nava, 
who  thought  that  the  Canary  Islands  afford  the  most 
suitable  place  for  naturalizing  the  plants  of  the  East 
and  West  Indies,  previous  to  their  introduction  to 
Europe.  They  arrived  very  late  at  the  port,  and 
next  morning  commenced  their  journey  to  the  Peak, 
accompanied  by  M.  Le  Gros,  M.  Lalande,  secretary 
of  the  French  consulate  at  Santa  Cruz,  the  English 
gardener  of  Durasno,  and  a  number  of  guides. 

Orotava,  the  Taoro  of  the  Guanches,  is  situated 
on  a  very  steep  declivity,  and  has  a  pleasant  aspect 
when  viewed  from  a  distance,  although  the  houses, 
when  seen  at  hand,  have  a  gloomy  appearance.  One 
of  the  most  remarkable  objects  in  this  place  is  the 
dragon-tree  in  the  garden  of  M.  Franqui,  of  which 
an  engraving  is  here  presented,  and  which  our 
travellers  found  to  be  about  60  feet  high,  with  a  cir- 
cumference of  48  feet  near  the  roots.  The  trunk 
divides  into  a  great  number  of  branches,  which  rise 
in  the  form  of  a  candelabrum,  and  are  terminated  by 
tufts  of  leaves.  This  tree  is  said  to  have  been  re- 
vered by  the  Guanches  as  the  ash  of  Ephesus  was 
by  the  Greeks ;  and  in  1402,  at  the  time  of  the  first 
expedition  of  Bethencour,  was  as  large  and  as  hollow 
D2 


42 


DRAGON-TREE    OF    OROTAVA. 


Dragon-tree  of  Orotava. 


as  our  travellers  found  it.  As  the  species  is  of  very 
slow  growth,  the  age  of  this  individual  must  be  great. 
It  is  singular  that  the  dragon-tree  should  have  been 
cultivated  in  these  islands  at  so  early  a  period,  it 
being  a  native  of  India,  and  nowhere  occurring  on 
the  African  continent. 

Leaving  Orotava  they  passed  by  a  narrow  and 
stony  path  through  a  beautiful  wood  of  chestnuts  to 
a  place  covered  with  brambles,  laurels,  and  arbores- 
cent heaths,  where,  under  a  solitary  pine,  known  by 
the  name  of  Pino  del  Dornajito,  they  procured  a 
supply  of  water.  From  this  place  to  the  crater  they 
continued  to  ascend  without  crossing  a  single  valley, 
passing  over  several  regions  distinguished  by  their 
peculiar  vegetation,  and  rested  during  part  of  the 
night  in  a  very  elevated  position,  where  they  suffered 


ASCENT   OF    THE    PEAK.  43 

severely  from  the  cold.  About  three  in  the  morn- 
ing they  began  to  climb  the  Sugar-loaf,  or  small 
terminal  cone,  by  the  dull  light  of  fir-torches,  and  ex- 
amined a  small  subterranean  glacier  or  cave,  whence 
the  towns  below  are  supplied  with  ice  throughout 
the  summer. 

In  the  twilight  they  observed  a  phenomenon  not 
unusual  on  high  mountains, — a  stratum  of  white 
clouds  spread  out  beneath,  concealing  the  face  of  the 
ocean,  and  presenting  the  appearance  of  a  vast  plain 
covered  with  snow.  Soon  afterward  another  very 
curious  sight  occurred,  namely,  the  semblance  of 
small  rockets  thrown  into  the  air,  and  which  they 
at  first  imagined  to  be  a  certain  indication  of  some 
new  eruption  of  the  great  volcano  of  Lancerota. 
But  the  illusion  soon  ceased,  and  they  found  that  the 
luminous  points  were  only  the  images  of  stars  mag- 
nified and  refracted  by  the  vapours.  They  remained 
motionless  at  intervals,  then  rose  perpendicularly, 
descended  sidewise,  and  returned  to  their  original 
position.  After  three  hours'  march  over  an  ex- 
tremely rugged  tract,  the  travellers  reached  a  small 
plain,  called  La  Rambleta,  from  the  centre  of  which 
rises  the  Piton  or  Sugar-loaf.  The  slope  of  this 
cone,  covered  with  volcanic  ashes  and  pumice,  is  so 
steep  that  it  would  have  been  almost  impossible  to 
reach  the  summit,  had  they  not  ascended  by  an  old 
current  of  lava,  which  had  in  some  measure  resisted 
the  action  of  the  atmosphere. 

On  attaining  the  top  of  this  steep  they  found  the 
crater  surrounded  by  a  wall  of  compact  lava,  in 
which,  however,  there  was  a  breach  affording  a  pas- 
sage to  the  bottom  of  the  funnel  or  caldera,  the 
greatest  diameter  of  which  at  the  mouth  seemed  to 
be  320  feet.  There  were  no  large  openings  in  the 
crater ;  but  aqueous  vapours  were  emitted  by  some 
of  the  crevices,  in  which  heat  was  perceptible.  In 
fact,  the  volcano  has  not  been  active  at  the  summit 
for  thousands  of  years,  its  eruptions  having  been 


44  PEAK    OF    TENERIFFE. 

from  the  sides,  and  the  depth  of  the  crater  is  only 
about  106  feet.  After  examining  the  objects  that 
presented  themselves  in  this  elevated  spot,  and  en- 
joying the  vast  prospect,  the  travellers  commenced 
their  descent,  and  towards  evening  reached  the  port 
of  Orotava. 

The  Peak  of  Teneriffe  forms  a  pyramidal  mass, 
having  a  circumference  at  the  base  of  more  than 
115,110  yards,  and  a  height  of  12,176  feet.*  Two- 
thirds  of  the  mass  are  covered  with  vegetation,  the 
remaining  part  being  steril,  and  occupying  about 
ten  square  leagues  of  surface.  The  cone  is  very 
small  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  mountain,  it 
having  a  height  of  only  537  feet,  or  -^  of  the  whole. 
The  lower-part  of  the  island  is  composed  of  basalt 
and  other  igneous  rocks  of  ancient  formation,  and  is 
separated  from  the  more  recent  lavas,  and  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  present  volcano,  by  strata x>f  tufa,  puz- 
zolana,  and  clay.  The  first  that  occur  in  ascending 
the  Peak  are  of  a  black  colour,  altered  by  decom- 
position, and  sometimes  porous.  Their  basis  is 
wacke,  and  has  usually  an  irregular,  but  sometimes 
a  conchoidal  fracture.  They  are  divided  into  very 
thin  layers,  and  contain  olivine,  magnetic  iron,  and 
augite.  On  the  first  elevated  plain,  that  of  Retama, 
the  basaltic  deposites  disappear  beneath  heaps  of 
ashes  and  pumice.  Beyond  this  are  lavas,  with 
a  basis  of  pitch-stone  and  obsidian,  of  a  blackish- 
brown,  or  deep  olive-green  colour,  and  containing 

*  Various  measurements  have  been  made  of  the  height  of  the  Peak  of 
Teneriffe ;  but  Humboldt,  after  enumerating  fourteen,  states  that  the  fol- 
lowing alone  can  be  considered  as  deserving  of  confidence : 

Borda's,  by  trigonometry 1905  toises. 

Borda's,  by  the  barometer 1976 

Lamanou's,  by  the  same 1902 

Cordier's,  by  the  same 1920 

The  average  of  these  four  observations  makes  the  height  1926  toises ; 
but  if  the  barometric  measurement  of  Borda  be  rejected,  as  liable  to  ob- 
jections particularly  stated  by  our  author,  the  mean  of  the  remaining 
measurement  is  1909  toises,  or  12,208  English  feet.  It  is  seen  above, 
that  the  height  adopted  by  Humboldt  is  1904  toises,  or  12,176  English 
feet. 


VOLCANIC    ERUPTIONS.  45 

crystals  of  felspar,  which  are  seldom  vitreous.  la 
the  middle  of  the  Malpays,  or  second  platform,  are 
found,  among-  the  glassy  kinds,  blocks  of  greenish- 
gray  clinkstone  or  porphyry-slate.  Obsidian  of  sev- 
eral varieties  is  exceedingly  abundant  on  the  Peak, 
as  well  as  pumice,  the  latter  being  generally  of  a 
white  colour  ;  and  the  crater  contains  an  enormous 
quantity  of  sulphur. 

The  oldest  written  testimony  in  regard  to  the  ac- 
tivity of  the  volcano  dates  at  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  is  contained  in  the  narrative 
of  Aloysio  Cadamusto,  who  landed  in  the  Canaries 
in  1505.  In  1558,  1646,  and  1677,  eruptions  took 
place  in  the  Isle  of  Palma ;  and  on  the  31st  Decem- 
ber, 1704,  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe  exhibited  a  lateral 
burst,  preceded  by  tremendous  earthquakes.  On 
the  5th  January,  1705,  another  opening  occurred,  the 
lavas  produced  by  which  filled  the  whole  valley  of 
Fasnia.  This  aperture  closed  on  the  13th  January  ; 
but  on  the  2d  February,  a  third  formed  in  the  Can- 
nada  de  Arafo,  the  stream  from  which  divided  into 
three  currents.  On  the  5th  May,  1706,  another 
eruption  supervened,  which  destroyed  the  populous 
and  opulent  city  of  Garachico.  In  1730,  on  the  1st 
September,  the  island  of  Lancerota  was  violently 
convulsed;  and  on  the  9th  June,  1798,  the  Peak 
emitted  a  great  quantity  of  matter,  which  continued 
to  run  three  months  and  six  days. 

The  island  of  Teneriffe  presents  five  zones  of  vege- 
tation, arranged  in  stages  one  above  another,  and 
occupying  a  perpendicular  height  of  3730  yards. 

1.  The  Region  of  Vines  extends  from  the  shores  to 
an  elevation  varying  from  430  to  640  yards,  and  is 
the  only  part  carefully  cultivated.  It  exhibits  vari- 
ous species  of  arborescent  Euphorbiae,  Mesembryan- 
thema,  the  Cacalia  kleinia,  the  Dracoena,  and  other 
plants,  whose  naked  and  tortuous  trunks,  succulent 
leaves,  and  bluish-green  tints,  constitute  features 
distinctive  of  the  vegetation  of  Africa.  In  this 


46  ZONES   OF   VEGETATION. 

zone  are  raised  the  date-tree,  the  plantain,  the  sugar- 
cane, the  Indian-fig,  the  arum  colocasia,  the  olive, 
the  fruit  trees  of  Europe,  the  vine,  and  wheat. 

2.  The  Region  of  Laurels  is  that  which  forms  the 
woody  part  of  Teneriffe,  where  the  surface  of  the 
ground  is  always  verdant,  being  plentifully  watered 
by  springs.     Four  kinds  of  laurel,  an  oak,  a  wild 
olive,  two  species  of   iron-tree,  the  arbutus  calli- 
carpa,  and  other  evergreens,  adorn  this  zone.     The 
trunks  are  covered  by  the  ivy  of  the  Canaries,  and 
various  twining  shrubs,  and  the  woods  are  filled  with 
numerous  species  of  fern.     The  hypericum,  and 
other  showy  plants,  enrich  with  their  beautiful  flow- 
ers the  verdant  carpet  of  moss  and  grass. 

3.  The  Region  of  Pines,  which  commences  at  the 
height  of  1920  yards,  and  has  a  breadth  of  850,  is 
characterized  by  a  vast  forest  of  trees,  resembling 
the  Scotch  fir,  intermixed  with  jumper. 

4.  The  fourth  zone  is  remarkable  chiefly  for  the 
profusion  of   retama,  a  species  of  broom,  which 
forms  oases  in  the  midb.  of  a  wide  sea  of  ashes.    It 
grows  to  the  height  of  nine  or  ten  feet,  is  ornamented 
with  fragrant  flowers,   aife?  cfurnishes  food  to   the 
goats,  which  have  run  wild* on  the  Peak  from  time 
immemorial. 

5.  The  fifth  zone  is  the  Region  of  the  Grasses,  in 
which  some  species  of  these  supply  a  scanty  cover- 
ing to  the  heaps  of  pumice,  obsidian,  and  lava.    A 
few  cryptogamic  plants  are  observed  higher ;  but 
the  summit  is  entirely  destitute  of  vegetation. 

Thus  the  whole  island  may  be  considered  as  a 
forest  of  laurels,  arbutuses,  and  pines,  of  which  the 
external  margin  only  has  been  in  some  measure 
cleared,  while  the  central  part  consists  of  a  rocky 
and  steril  soil,  unfit  even  for  pasturage. 

The  following  day  was  passed  by  our  travellers  in 
visiting  the  neighbourhood  of  Orotava,  and  enjoy- 
ing an  agreeable  company  at  Mr.  Cologan's.  On 
the  eve  of  St.  John,  they  were  present  at  a  pastoral 


DEPARTURE  FROM  SANTA  CRUZ.        47 

fete  in  the  garden  of  Mr.  Little,  who  had  reduced  to 
cultivation  a  hill  covered  with  volcanic  substances, 
from  which  there  is  a  magnificent  view  of  the  Peak, 
the  villages  along  the  coast,  and  the  isle  of  Palma. 
Early  in  the  evening  the  volcano  suddenly  exhibited 
a  most  extraordinary  spectacle,  the  shepherds  hav- 
ing, in  conformity  to  ancient  custom,  lighted  the 
fires  of  St.  John ;  the  scattered  masses  of  which, 
with  the  columns  of  smoke  driven  by  the  wind, 
formed  a  fine  contrast  to  the  deep  verdure  of  the 
woods  that  covered  the  sides  of  the  mountain,  while 
the  silence  of  nature  was  broken  at  intervals  by  the 
shouts  of  joy  which  came  from  afar. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Passage  from  Teneri&e  to  Cumana. 

Departure  from  Santa  Cruz— Floating  Seaweeds— Flying-fish— Stars- 
Malignant  Fever— Island  of  Tolwfo— Death  of  a  Passenger— Island 
of  Coche — Port  of  Cumana — O  ervations  made  during  the  Voyage; 
Temperature  of  the  Air ;  Temperature  of  the  Sea  j  Hygrometrical 
State  of  the  Air  ;  Colour  of  the  Sky  and  Ocean. 

HAVING  sailed  from  Santa  Cruz  on  the  evening  of 
the  25th  of  June,  with  a  strong  wind  from  the  north- 
east, our  travellers  soon  lost  sight  of  the  Canary 
Islands,  the  mountains  of  which  were  covered  with 
reddish  vapour,  the  Peak  alone  appearing  at  intervals 
in  the  breaks.  The  passage  from  Teneriffe  to  Cu- 
mana was  performed  in  twenty  days,  the  distance 
being  3106  miles. 

The  wind  gradually  subsided  as  they  retired  from 
the  African  coast.  Short  calms  of  several  hours 
occasionally  took  place,  which  were  regularly  inter- 
rupted by  slight  squalls,  accompanied  by  masses  of 
dark  clouds,  emitting  a  few  large  drops  of  rain,  but 


48  FLOATING    SEAWEEDS. 

without  thunder.  To  the  north  of  the  Cape  Verd 
Islands  they  met  with  large  patches  of  floating  sea- 
weed (Fucus  natans),  which  grows  on  submarine 
rocks,  from  the  equator  to  forty  degrees  of  latitude 
on  either  side.  These  scattered  plants,  however, 
must  not  be  confounded  with  the  vast  beds,  said 
by  Columbus  to  resemble  extensive  meadows,  and 
which  inspired  with  terror  the  crew  of  the  Santa 
Maria.  From  a  comparison  of  numerous  journals, 
it  appears  that  there  are  two  such  fields  of  seaweed 
in  the  Atlantic.  The  largest  occurs  a  little  to  the 
west  of  the  meridian  of  Fayal,  one  of  the  Azores, 
between  25°  and  36°  of  latitude.  The  temperature 
of  the  ocean  there  is  between  60'8°  and  68°  ;  and 
the  north-west  winds,  which  blow  sometimes  with 
impetuosity,  drive  floating  islands  of  those  weeds 
into  low  latitudes,  as  far  as  the  parallels  of  24°  and 
even  20°.  Vessels  returning  to  Europe  from  Monte 
Video,  or  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  pass  through  this 
marine  meadow,  which  the  Spanish  pilots  consider 
as  lying  half-way  between  the  West  Indies  and  the 
Canaries.  The  other  section  is  not  so  well  known, 
and  occupies  a  smaller  space  between  lat.  22°  and 
26°  of  N.,  two  hundred  and  seventy-six  miles  east- 
ward of  the  Bahama  Islands. 

Although  a  species  of  seaweed,  the  Laminaria  py- 
rifera  of  Lanlouroux,  has  been  observed  with  stems 
850  feet  in  length,  and  although  the  growth  of  the^se 
plants  is  exceedingly  rapid,  it  is  yet  certain  that  in 
those  seas  the  fuci  are  not  fixed  to  the  bottom,  but 
float  in  detached  parcels  at  the  surface.  In  this 
state,  vegetation,  it  is  obvious,  cannot  continue  longer 
than  in  the  branch  of  a  tree  separated  from  the 
trunk  ;  and  it  may  therefore  be  supposed,  that  float- 
ing masses  of  these  weeds  occurring  for  ages  in  the 
same  position,  owe  their  origin  to  submarine  rocks, 
which  continually  supply  what  has  been  carried  off 
by  the  equinoctial  currents.  But  the  causes  by 
which  these  plants  are  detached  are  not  yet  suffi- 


FLYING-FISH.  49 

ciently  known,  although  the  author  just  named  has 
shown  that  fuel  in  general  separate  with  great  facil- 
ity after  the  period  of  fructification. 

Beyond  22°  of  latitude  they  found  the  surface  of 
the  sea  covered  with  flying-fish  (Exocetus  volitans), 
which  sprang  into  the  air  to  a  height  of  twelve,  fif- 
teen, and  even  eighteen  feet,  and  sometimes  fell  on 
the  deck.  The  great  size  of  the  swimming-bladder 
in  these  animals,  being  two-thirds  the  length  of  their 
body,  as  well  as  that  of  the  pectoral  fins,  enable 
them  to  traverse  in  the  air  a  space  of  twenty-four 
feet,  horizontal  distance,  before  falling  again  into  the 
water.  They  are  incessantly  pursued  by  dolphins 
while  under  the  surface,  and  when  flying  are  attacked 
by  frigate-birds,  and  other  predatory  species.  Yet 
it  does  not  seem  that  they  leap  into  the  atmosphere 
merely  to  avoid  their  enemies ;  for,  like  swallows, 
they  move  by  thousands  in  a  right  line,  and  always  in 
a  direction  opposite  to  that  of  the  waves.  The  air 
contained  in  the  swimming-bladder  had  been  sup- 
posed to  be  pure  oxygen  ;  but  Humboldt  found  it  to 
consist  of  ninety-four  parts  of  azote,  four  of  oxygen, 
and  two  of  carbonic  acid. 

On  the  1st  July  they  met  with  the  wreck  of  a  ves- 
sel, and  on  the  3d  and  4th  crossed  that  part  of  the 
ocean  where  the  charts  indicate  the  bank  of  the 
Maal-Stroom,  which,  however,  is  of  very  doubtful 
existence.  As  they  approached  this  imaginary  whirl- 
pool, they  observed  no  other  motion  in  the  waters 
than  that  produced  by  a  current  bearing  to  the  north- 
west. 

From  the  time  when  they  entered  the  torrid  zone 
(the  27th  June),  they  never  ceased  to  admire  the 
nocturnal  beauty  of  the  southern  sky,  which  grad- 
ually disclosed  new  constellations  to  their  view. 
"  One  experiences  an  indescribable  sensation,"  says 
Humboldt,  "  when,  as  he  approaches  the  equator,  and 
especially  in  passing  from  the  one  hemisphere  to  the 
other,  he  sees  the  stars  with  which  he  has  been  fa- 
E 


50        MALIGNANT  FEVER  ON  BOARD. 

jniliar  from  infancy  gradually  approach  the  horizon, 
and  finally  disappear.  Nothing  impresses  more 
vividly  on  the  mind  of  the  traveller  the  vast  dis- 
tance to  which  he  has  been  removed  from  his  native 
country  than  the  sight  of  a  new  firmament.  The 
grouping  of  the  larger  stars,  the  scattered  nebulae 
rivalling  in  lustre  the  milky-way,  and  spaces  re- 
markable for  their  extreme  darkness,  give  the  south- 
ern heavens  a  peculiar  aspect.  The  sight  even 
strikes  the  imagination  of  those  who,  although  igno- 
rant of  astronomy,  find  pleasure  in  contemplating 
the  celestial  vault,  as  one  admires  a  fine  landscape 
or  a  majestic  site.  Without  being  a  botanist,  the 
traveller  knows  the  torrid  zone  by  the  mere  sight  of 
its  vegetation ;  and  without  the  possession  of  astro- 
nomical knowledge,  perceives  that  he  is  not  in  Eu- 
rope, when  he  sees  rising  in  the  horizon  the  great 
constellation  of  the  Ship,  or  the  phosphorescent 
clouds  of  Magellan.  In  the  equinoctial  regions,  the 
earth,  the  sky,  and  all  their  garniture  assume  an 
exotic  character." 

The  intertropical  seas  being  usually  smooth,  and 
the  vessel  being  impelled  by  the  gentle  breezes  of 
the  trade-wind,  the  passage  from  the  Cape  Verd 
Islands  to  Cumana  was  as  pleasant  as  could  be  de- 
sired ;  but  as  they  approached  the  West  Indies  a 
malignant  fever  disclosed  itself  on  board.  The  ship 
was  very  much  encumbered  between  decks,  and  from 
the  time  they  passed  the  tropic  the  thermometer 
stood  from  93°  to  96'8°.  Two  sailors,  several  pas- 
sengers, two  negroes  from  the  coast  of  Guinea,  and 
a  mulatto  child  were  attacked.  An  ignorant  Galician 
surgeon  ordered  bleedings,  to  obviate  the  "  heat  and 
corruption  of  the  blood ;"  but  little  exertion  had  been 
made  in  attempting  to  diminish  the  danger  of  infec- 
tion, and  there  was  not  an  ounce  of  bark  on  board. 
A  sailor,  who  had  been  on  the  point  of  expiring,  re- 
covered his  health  in  a  singular  manner.  His  ham- 
mock having  been  so  hung  that  the  sacrament  could 


TOBAGO — BOCCA  DEL  DRAGO.        51 

not  be  administered  to  him,  he  was  removed  to  an 
airy  place  near  the  hatchway,  and  left  there,  his 
death  being  expected  every  moment.  The  transi- 
tion from  a  hot  and  stagnant  to  a  fresher  and  purer 
atmosphere  gradually  restored  him,  and  his  recovery 
furnished  the  doctor  with  an  additional  proof  of  the 
necessity  of  bleeding  and  evacuation, — a  treatment 
of  which  the  fatal  effects  soon  became  perceptible. 

On  the  13th,  early  in  the  morning,  very  highland 
was  seen.  The  wind  blew  hard,  the  sea  was  rough, 
large  drops  of  rain  fell  at  intervals,  and  there  was 
every  appearance  of  stormy  weather.  Considerable 
doubt  existed  as  to  the  latitude  and  longitude,  which 
was  however  removed  by  observations  made  by  our 
travellers,  and  the  appearance  of  the  island  of  To- 
bago. This  little  island  is  a  heap  of  rocks,  the  daz- 
zling whiteness  of  which  forms  an  agreeable  contrast 
with  the  verdure  of  the  scattered  tufts  of  trees  upon 
it.  The  mountains  are  crowned  with  very  tall 
opuntiae,  which  alone  are  enough  to  apprize  the  nav- 
igator that  he  has  arrived  on  an  American  coast. 

After  doubling  the  north  cape  of  Tobago  and  the 
point  of  St.  Giles,  they  discovered  from  the  mast- 
head what  they  regarded  as  a  hostile  squadron ; 
which,  however,  turned  out  to  be  only  a  group  of 
rocks.  Crossing  the  shoal  which  joins  the  former 
island  to  Grenada,  they  found  that,  although  the 
colour  of  the  sea  was  not  visibly  changed,  the  ther- 
mometer indicated  a  temperature  several  degrees 
lower  than  that  of  the  neighbouring  parts.  The 
wind  diminished  after  sunset,  and  the  clouds  dis- 
persed as  the  moon  reached  the  zenith.  Numerous 
falling-stars  were  seen  on  this  and  the  following 
nights. 

On  the  14th,  at  sunrise,  they  were  in  sight  of  the 
Bocca  del  Drago,  and  distinguished  the  island  of 
Chacachacarreo.  When  seventeen  miles  distant  from 
the  coast,  they  experienced,  near  Punta  de  la  Baca, 
the  effect  of  a  current  which  drew  the  ship  southward. 


52  MALIGNANT   FEVER. 

Heaving  the  lead,  they  found  from  230  to  275  feet, 
with  a  bottom  of  very  fine  green  clay, — a  depth 
much  less  than,  according  to  Dampier's  rule,  might 
have  been  expected  in  the  vicinity  of  a  shore  formed 
of  very  elevated  and  perpendicular  mountains. 

The  disease  which  had  broken  out  on  board  the 
Pizarro  made  rapid  progress  from  the  time  they  ap- 
proached the  coast.  The  thermometer  kept  steady 
at  night  between  7T60  and  73 '4°,  and  during  the  day 
rose  to  between  75 "2°  and  80 -6°.  The  determination 
to  the  head,  the  extreme  dryness  of  the  skin,  the 
prostration  of  strength,  and  all  the  other  symptoms 
became  more  alarming ;  but  it  was  hoped  that  the 
sick  would  recover  as  soon  as  they  were  landed  on 
the  island  of  St.  Margaret,  or  at  the  port  of  Cumana, 
both  celebrated  for  their  great  salubrity.  This  hope, 
however,  was  not  entirely  realized,  for  one  of  the 
passengers  fell  a  victim  to  the  distemper.  He  was 
an  Asturian,  nineteen  years  of  age,  the  only  son  of 
a  poor  widow.  Various  circumstances  combined  to 
render  the  death  of  this  young  man  affecting.  He 
was  of  an  exceedingly  gentle  disposition,  bore  the 
marks  of  great  sensibility,  and  had  left  his  native 
land  against  his  inclination,  with  the  view  of  earn- 
ing an  independence  and  assisting  his  reluctant 
mother,  under  the  protection  of  a  rich  relation,  who 
resided  in  the  island  of  Cuba.  From  the  commence- 
ment of  his  illness  he  had  fallen  into  a  lethargic 
state,  interrupted  by  accessions  of  delirium,  and  on 
the  third  day  expired.  Another  Asturian,  who  was 
still  younger,  did  not  leave  the  bed  of  his  dying 
friend  for  a  moment,  and  yet  escaped  the  disease. 
He  had  intended  to  accompany  his  countryman  to 
Cuba,  to  be  introduced  by  him  to  the  house  of  his 
relative,  on  whom  all  their  hopes  rested ;  and  it  was 
distressing  to  see  his  deep  sorrow,  and  to  hear  him 
curse  the  fatal  counsels  which  had  thrown  him  into 
a  foreign  climate,  where  he  found  himself  alone  and 
destitute. 


MALIGNANT    FEVER.  53 

"  We  were  assembled  on  the  deck,"  says  our  elo- 
quent author,  "  absorbed  in  melancholy  reflections. 
It  was  no  longer  doubtful  that  the  fever  which  pre- 
vailed on  board  had  of  late  assumed  a  fatal  character. 
Our  eyes  were  fixed  on  a  mountainous  and  desert 
coast,  on  which  the  moon  shone  at  intervals  through 
the  clouds.  The  sea,  gently  agitated,  glowed  with 
a  feeble  phosphoric  light.  No  sound  came  on  the 
ear  save  the  monotonous  cry  of  some  large  seabirds, 
that  seemed  to  be  seeking  the  shore.  A  deep  calm 
reigned  in  these  solitary  places  ;  but  this  calm  of  ex- 
ternal nature  accorded  ill  with  the  painful  feelings 
which  agitated  us.  About  eight  the  death-bell  was 
slowly  tolled.  At  this  doleful  signal  the  sailors 
ceased  from  their  work,  and  threw  themselves  on 
their  knees  to  offer  up  a  short  prayer ;  an  affecting 
ceremony,  which,  while  it  recalls  the  times  when 
the  primitive  Christians  considered  themselves  as 
members  of  the  same  family,  seems  to  unite  men  by 
the  feeling  of  a  common  evil.  In  the  course  of  the 
night  the  body  of  the  Asturian  was,  brought  upon 
deck,  and  the  priest  prevailed  upon  them  not  to 
throw  it  into  the  sea  till  after  sunrise,  in  order  that 
he  might  render  to  it  the  last  rites,  in  conformity  to 
the  practice  of  the  Romish  church.  There  was  not 
an  individual  on  board  who  did  not  feel  for  the  fate 
of  this  young  man,  whom  we  had  seen  a  few  days 
before  full  of  cheerfulness  and  health." 

The  passengers  who  had  not  been  affected  by  the 
disease  resolved  to  leave  the  ship  at  the  first  place 
where  she  should  touch,  and  there  wait  the  arrival 
of  another  packet  to  convey  them  to  Cuba  and 
Mexico.  Our  travellers  also  thought  it  prudent  to 
land  at  Cumana,  more  especially  as  they  wished  not 
to  visit  New  Spain  until  they  had  remained  for  some 
time  on  the  coasts  of  Venezuela  and  Paria,  and  ex- 
amined the  beautiful  plants  of  which  Bosc  and  Bre- 
demeyer  collected  specimens  on  their  voyage  to 
Terra  Firma,  and  which  Humboldt  had  seen  in  the. 
E  2 


54  ISLAND   OF    CO  CHE. 

gardens  of  Schonbrunn  and  Vienna.  This  resolution 
had  a  happy  influence  upon  the  direction  of  their 
journey,  as  will  subsequently  be  seen,  and  perhaps 
was  the  occasion  of  securing  for  them  the  health 
which  they  enjoyed  during  a  long  residence  in  the 
equinoctial  regions.  They  were  by  this  means  for- 
tunate enough  to  pass  the  time  when  a  European 
recently  landed  runs  the  greatest  danger  of  being 
affected  by  the  yellow  fever,  in  the  hot  but  very  dry 
climate  of  Cuinana,  a  city  celebrated  for  its  salubrity. 
As  the  coast  of  Paria  stretches  to  the  west,  in  the 
form  of  perpendicular  cliffs  of  no  great  height,  they 
were  long  without  perceiving  the  bold  shores  of  the 
island  of  St.  Margaret,  where  they  intended  to  stop 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  information  respecting 
the  English  cruisers.  Towards  eleven  in  the  morn- 
ing of  the  15th,  they  observed  a  very  low  islet  cov- 
ered with  sand,  and  destitute  of  any  trace  of  culture 
or  habitation.  Cactuses  rose  here  and  there  from  a 
scanty  soil,  which  seemed  to  have  an  undulating  mo- 
tion, in  consequence  of  the  extraordinary  refraction 
the  solar  rays  undergo  in  passing  through  the  stra- 
tum of  air  in  contact  with  a  strongly-heated  surface. 
The  deserts  and  sandy  shores  of  all  countries  pre- 
sent this  appearance.  The  aspect  of  this  place  not 
corresponding  with  the  ideas  which  they  had  formed 
of  the  island  of  Margaretta,  and  the  greatest  per- 
plexity existing  as  to  their  position  and  course,  they 
cast  anchor  in  shallow  water,  and  were  visited  by 
some  Guayquerias  in  two  canoes,  constructed  each 
of  the  single  trunk  of  a  tree.  These  Indians,  who 
we're  of  a  coppery  colour,  and  very  tall,  informed 
them  that  they  had  kept  too  far  south,  that  the  low 
islet  near  which  they  were  at  anchor  was  the  island 
of  Coche,  and  that  Spanish  vessels  coming  from  Eu- 
rope usually  passed  to  the  northward  of  it.  The 
master  of  one  of  the  canoes  offered  to  remain  on 
board  as  coasting  pilot,  and  towards  evening  the 
captain  set  sail. 


COAST    OF   NEW-ANDALTJSIA.  55 

On  the  16th  they  beheld  a  verdant  coast  of  pictu- 
resque appearance  ;  the  mountains  of  New- Anda- 
lusia bounded  the  southern  horizon,  and  the  city  of 
Cumana  and  its  castle  appeared  among  groups  of 
trees.  They  anchored  in  the  port  about  nine  in  the 
morning,  when  the  sick  crawled  on  deck  to  enjoy 
the  sight.  The  river  was  bordered  with  cocoa- 
trees  more  than  sixty  feet  high, — the  plain  was  cov- 
ered with  tufts  of  cassias,  capers,  and  arborescent 
mimosas,  while  the  pinnated  leaves  of  the  palms 
were  conspicuous  on  the  azure  of  a  sky  unsullied 
by  the  least  trace  of  vapour.  A  dazzling  light  was 
spread  along  the  white  hills  clothed  with  cylindrical 
cactuses,  and  over  the  smooth  sea,  the  shores  of 
which  were  peopled  by  pelicans,  egrets,  and  flamin- 
goes. Every  thing  announced  the  magnificence  of 
nature  in  the  equinoctial  regions. 

Before  accompanying  our  learned  friends  to  the 
city  of  Cumana,  we  may  here  take  a  glance  of  the 
physical  observations  made  by  them  during  the 
voyage,  and  which  refer  to  the  temperature  of  the 
air  and  sea,  and  other  subjects  of  general  interest. 

Temperature  of  the  Air. — In  the  basin  of  the 
northern  Atlantic  Ocean,  between  the  coasts  of  Eu- 
rope, Africa,  and  America,  the  temperature  of  the 
atmosphere  exhibits  a  very  slow  increase.  From 
Corunna  to  the  Canary  Islands,  the  thermometer, 
observed  at  noon  and  in  the  shade,  gradually  rose 
from  50°  to  64°,  and  from  Teneriffe  to  Cumana  from 
64°  to  7"/°.  The  maximum  of  heat  observed  during 
the  voyage  did  not  exceed  79*9°. 

The  extreme  slowness  with  which  the  tempera- 
ture increases  during  a  voyage  from  Spain  to  South 
America  is  highly  favourable  to  the  health  of  Eu- 
ropeans, as  it  gradually  prepares  them  for  the  intense 
heat  which  they  have  to  experience.  It  is  in  a 
great  measure  attributable  to  the  evaporation  of  the 
water,  augmented  by  the  motion  of  the  air  and 
waves,  together  with  the  property  possessed  by 


58     TEMPERATURE  DURING  THE  VOYAGE. 

transparent  liquids  of  absorbing  very  little  light  at 
their  surface.  On  comparing  the  numerous  obser- 
vations made  by  navigators,  we  are  surprised  to  see 
that  in  the  torrid  zone,  in  either  hemisphere,  they 
have  not  found  the  thermometer  to  rise  in  the  open 
sea  above  93° ;  while  in  corresponding  latitudes 
on  the  continents  of  Asia  and  Africa,  it  attains  a 
much  greater  elevation.  The  difference  between 
the  temperature  of  the  day  and  night  is  also  less 
than  on  land. 

Temperature  of  the  Sea. — From  Corunna  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Tagus,  the  temperature  of  the  sea 
varied  little  (between  59°  and  60-8°),  but  from  lat. 
39°  to  10°  N.,  the  increase  was  rapid  and  generally 
uniform  (from  59°  to  78 '4°),  although  inequalities 
occurred,  probably  caused  by  currents.  It  is  very 
remarkable  that  there  is  a  great  uniformity  in  the 
maximum  of  heat  everywhere  in  the  equinoctial 
waters.  This  maximum,  which  varies  from  82°  to 
84'2°,  proves  that  the  ocean  is  in  general  warmer 
than  the  atmosphere  in  direct  contact  with  it,  and 
of  which  the  mean  temperature  near  the  equator  is 
from  78-8°  to  80'6°. 

Hygrometrical  State  of  the  Air. — During  the  whole 
of  the  voyage,  the  apparent  humidity  of  the  atmo- 
sphere indicated  by  the  hygrometer  underwent  a  sen- 
sible increase.  In  July,  in  lat.  13°  and  14°  N., 
Saussure's  hygrometer  marked  at  sea  from  88°  to 
92°,  in  perfectly  clear  weather,  the  thermometer 
being  at  75*2°.  On  the  banks  of  the  Lake  of  Ge- 
neva the  mean  humidity  of  the  same  month  is  only 
80°,  the  average  heat  being  66 '2°.  On  reducing 
these  observations  to  a  uniform  temperature,  we  find 
that  the  real  humidity  in  the  equinoctial  basin  of  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  is  to  that  of  the  summer  months  at 
Geneva  as  12  to  7.  This  astonishing  degree  of 
moisture  in  the  air  accounts  to  a  great  extent  for  the 
vigorous  vegetation  which  presents  itself  on  the 


COLOUR   OF   THE   SKY/  57 

coasts  of  South  America,  where  so  little  rain  falls 
throughout  the  year. 

Intensity  of  the  Colour  of  the  Sky  and  Ocean. — 
From  the  coasts  of  Spain  and  Africa  to  those  of 
South  America,  the  azure  colour  of  the  sky  increased 
from  13°  to  23°  of  Saussure's  cyanometer.  From 
the  8th  to  the  12th  of  July,  in  lat.  12|°  and  14°  N., 
the  sky,  although  free  of  vapour,  was  of  an  extra- 
ordinary paleness,  the  instrument  indicating  only  16° 
or  17°,  although  on  the  preceding  days  it  had  been  at 
22°.  The  tint  of  the  sky  is  generally  deeper  in  the 
torrid  zone  than  in  high  latitudes,  and  in  the  same 
parallel  it  is  fainter  at  sea  than  on  land.  The  latter 
circumstance  may  be  attributed  to  the  quantity  of 
aqueous  vapour  which  is  continually  rising  towards 
the  higher  regions  of  the  air  from  the  surface  of  the 
sea.  From  the  zenith  to  the  horizon,  there  is  in  all 
latitudes  a  diminution  of  intensity,  which  follows 
nearly  an  arithmetical  progression,  and  depends  upon 
the  moisture  suspended  in  the  atmosphere.  If  the 
cyanometer  indicate  this  accumulation  of  vapour  in 
the  more  elevated  portion  of  the  air,  the  seaman 
possesses  a  simpler  method  of  judging  of  the  state 
of  its  lower  regions,  by  observing  the  colour  and 
figure  of  the  solar  disk  at  its  rising  and  setting.  In 
the  torrid  zone,  where  meteorological  phenomena 
follow  each  other  with  great  regularity,  the  prog- 
nostics are  more  to  be  depended  upon  than  in  north- 
ern regions.  Great  paleness  of  the  setting  sun,  and 
an  extraordinary  disfiguration  of  its  disk,  almost 
certainly  presage  a  storm ;  and  yet  one  can  hardly 
conceive  how  the  condition  of  the  lower  strata  of 
the  air,  which  is  announced  in  this  manrler,  can  be 
so  intimately  connected  with  those  atmospherical 
changes  that  take  place  within  the  space  of  a  few 
hours. 

Mariners  are  accustomed  to  observe  the  appear- 
ances of  the  sky  more  carefully  than  landsmen,  and 
among  the  numerous  meteorological  rules  which 


58  COLOUR    OF    THE    OCEAN. 

pilots  transmit  to  each  other,  several  evince  great 
sagacity.  Prognostics  are  also  in  general  less  un- 
certain on  the  ocean,  and  especially  in  the  equinoc- 
tial parts  of  it,  than  on  land,  where  the  inequalities 
of  the  ground  interrupt  the  regularity  of  their  mani- 
festation. 

Humboldt  also  applied  the  cyanometer  to  measure 
the  colour  of  the  sea.  In  fine  calm  weather,  the 
tint  was  found  to  be  equal  to  33°,  38°,  sometimes 
even  44°  of  the  instrument,  although  the  sky  was 
very  pale,  and  scarcely  attained  14°  or  15°.  When, 
instead  of  directing  the  apparatus  to  a  great  extent 
of  open  sea,  the  observer  fixes  his  eyes  on  a  small 
part  of  its  surface  viewed  through  a  narrow  aper- 
ture, the  water  appears  of  a  rich  ultramarine  colour. 
Towards  evening  again,  when  the  edge  of  the  waves, 
as  the  sun  shines  upon  them,  is  of  an  emerald-green, 
the  surface  of  the  shaded  side  reflects  a  purple  hue. 
Nothing  is  more  striking  than  the  rapid  changes 
which  the  colour  of  the  sea  undergoes  under  a  clear 
sky,  in  the  midst  of  the  ocean  and^in  deep  water, 
when  it  maybe  seen  passing  from  irnc^o-blue  to  the 
deepest  green,  and  from  .j&is  to  slate-gray.  The 
blue  is  almost  independent  of  the  reflection  of  the 
atmosphere.  The  intertropical  seas  are  in  general 
of  a  deeper  and  purer  tint  than  in  high  latitudes,  and 
the  ocean  often  remains  blue,  when,  in  fine  weather, 
more  than  four-fifths  of  the  sky  are  covered  with 
light  and  scattered  clouds  of  a  white  colour. 


LANDING   AT    CtTMANA.  69 


CHAPTER  V. 

Cumana. 

Landing  at  Cumana— Introduction  to  the  Governor— State  of  the  Sick- 
Description  of  the  Country  and  City  of  Cumana— Mode  of  Bathing  In 
the  Manzanares — Port  of  Cumana — Earthquakes ;  Their  Periodicity ; 
Connexion  with  the  State  of  the  Atmosphere;  Gaseous  Emanations; 
Subterranean  Noises;  Propagation  of  Shocks;  Connexion  between 
those  of  Cumana  and  the  West  Indies ;  and  general  Phenomena, 

THE  city  of  Cumana,  the  capital  of  New- Andalu- 
sia, is  a  mile  distant  from  the  landing-place,  and  in 
proceeding  towards  it  our  travellers  crossed  a  large 
sandy  plain,  which  separates  the  suburb  inhabited 
by  the  Guayqueria  Indians  from  the  seashore.  The 
excessive  heat  of  the  atmosphere  was  increased  by 
the  reflection  of  the  sun's  rays  from  a  naked  soil, 
the  thermometer  immersed  in  which  rose  to  99 '9°. 
In  the  little  ols  of  salt  water  it  remained  at  86 "9°, 
while  the  surface  of  tT"e  sea  in  the  port  generally 
ranges  from  77'4°  to  79'3°.  The  first  plant  gathered 
by  them  was  the  Avicennia  tomentosa,  which  is  re- 
markable for  occurring  also  on  the  Malabar  coast, 
and  belongs  to  the  small  number  that  live  in  society, 
like  the  heaths  of  Europe,  and  are  seen  in  the  torrid 
zone  only  on  the  shores  of  the  ocean  and  the  ele- 
vated platforms  of  the  Andes. 

Crossing  the  Indian  suburb,  the  streets  of  which 
were  very  neat,  they  were  conducted  by  the  captain 
of  the  Pizarro  to  the  governor  of  the  province,  Don 
Vicente  Emparan,  who  received  them  with  frank- 
ness ;  expressed  his  satisfaction  at  the  resolution 
which  they  had  taken  of  remaining  for  some  time 
in  New- Andalusia ;  showed  them  cottons  died  with 
native  plants,  and  furniture  made  of  indigenous  wood ; 
and  surprised  them  with  questions  indicative  of 


60  CUMANA. 

scientific  attainments.  On  disembarking  their  in- 
struments, they  had  the  pleasure  of  finding-  that  none 
of  them  had  been  damaged.  They  hired  a  spacious 
house  in  a  situation  favourable  for  astronomical 
observations,  in  which  they  enjoyed  an  agreeable 
coolness  when  the  breeze  arose,  the  windows  being 
without  glass,  or  even  the  paper  panes  which  are 
often  substituted  for  it  at  Cumana. 

The  passengers  all  left  the  vessel.  Those  who 
had  been  attacked  by  the  fever  recovered  so  very 
slowly,  that  some  were  seen  a  month  after  who, 
notwithstanding  the  care  bestowed  upon  them  by 
their  countrymen,  were  still  in  a  state  of  extreme 
debility.  The  hospitality  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Spanish  colonies  is  such  that  the  poorest  stranger  is 
sure  of  receiving  the  kindest  treatment.  Among 
the  sick  landed  here  was  a  negro,  who  soon  fell  into 
a  state  of  insanity  and  died ;  which  fact  our  author 
mentions,  as  a  proof  that  persons  born  in  the  torrid 
zone  are  liable  to  suffer  from  the  heat  of  the  tropics 
after  having  resided  in  temperate  climates.  This 
individual,  who  was  a  robust  young  man,  was  a  native 
of  Guinea,  but  had  lived  for  some  years  on  the  ele- 
vated plain  of  Castile. 

The  soil  around  Cumana  is  composed  of  gypsum 
and  calcareous  breccia,  and  is  supposed  at  a  remote 
period  to  have  been  covered  by  the  sea.  The  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  city  is  remarkable  for  the  woods 
of  cactus  which  are  spread  over  the  arid  lands. 
Some  of  these  plants  were  thirty  or  forty  feet  high, 
covered  with  lichens,  and  divided  into  branches  in 
the  form  of  a  candelabrum.  When  the  large  species 
grow  in  groups  they  form  a  thicket,  which,  while  it 
is  almost  impenetrable,  is  extremely  dangerous  on 
account  of  the  poisonous  serpents  that  frequent  it. 

The  fortress  of  St.  Antonio,  which  is  built  on  a 
calcareous  hill,  commands  the  town,  and  forms  a  pic- 
turesque object  to  vessels  entering  the  port.  On  the 
south-western  slope  of  the  same  rock  are  the  ruins 


BATHING   IN   THE    RIVER.  61 

of  the  castle  of  St.  Mary,  from  the  site  of  which 
there  is  a  fine  view  of  the  gulf,  together  with  the 
island  of  Margaretta  and  the  small  isles  of  Caraccas, 
Picuita,  and  Boracha,  which  present  the  most  singu- 
lar appearances  from  the  effect  of  mirage. 

The  city  of  Cumana,  properly  speaking,  occupies 
the  ground  that  lies  between  the  castle  of  St.  An- 
tonio and  the  small  rivers  Manzanares  and  Santa 
Catalina.  It  has  no  remarkable  buildings,  on  account 
of  the  violent  earthquakes  to  which  it  is  subject. 
The  suburbs  are  almost  as  populous  as  the  town  it- 
self, and  are  three  in  number :  namely,  Serritos,  St. 
Francis,  and  that  of  the  Guayquerias.  The  latter  is 
inhabited  by  a  tribe  of  civilized  Indians,  who,  for 
upwards  of  a  century,  have  adopted  the  Castilian 
language.  The  whole  population  in  1802  was  about 
eighteen  or  nineteen  thousand. 

The  plains  which  surround  the  city  have  a  parched 
and  dusty  aspect.  The  hill  on  which  the  fort  of  St. 
Antonio  stands  is  also  bare,  and  composed  of  calca- 
reous breccia,  containing  marine  shells.  Southward, 
in  the  distance,  is  avast  curtain  of  inaccessible  moun- 
tains, also  of  limestone.  These  ridges  are  covered  by 
majestic  forests,  extending  along  the  sloping  ground 
at  their  base  to  an  open  plain  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Cumana,  through  which  the  river  Manzanares  winds 
its  way  to  the  sea,  fringed  with  mimosas,  erythrinas, 
ceibas,  and  other  trees  of  gigantic  growth. 

This  river,  the  temperature  of  which  in  the  season 
of  the  floods  descends  as  low  as  7T60,  when  that  of 
the  air  is  as  high  as  91°,  is  an  inestimable  benefit  to 
the  inhabitants ;  all  of  whom,  even  the  women  of 
the  most  opulent  families,  learn  to  swim.  The  mode 
of  bathing  is  various.  Our  travellers  frequented 
every  evening  a  very  respectable  society  in  the 
suburb  of  the  Guayquerias.  In  the  beautiful  moon- 
light chairs  were  placed  in  the  water,  on  which  were 
seated  the  ladies  and  gentlemen,  lightly  clothed. 
The  family  and  the  strangers  passed  several  hours 
F 


62  EARTHQUAKES. 

in  the  river,  smoking  cigars  and  chatting  on  the 
usual  subjects  of  conversation,  such  as  the  extreme 
drought,  the  abundance  of  rain  in  the  neighbouring 
districts,  and  the  female  luxury  which  prevails  in 
Caraccas  and  Havana.  The  company  were  not 
disturbed  by  the  bavas,  or  small  crocodiles,  which 
are  only  three  or  four  feet  long,  and  are  now  ex- 
tremely rare.  Humboldt  and  his  companions  did 
not  meet  with  any  of  them  in  the  Manzanares  ;  but 
they  saw  plenty  of  dolphins,  which  sometimes  as- 
cended the  river  at  night,  and  frightened  the  bathers 
by  spouting  water  from  their  nostrils. 

The  port  of  Cumana  is  capable  of  receiving  all 
the  navies  of  Europe  ;  and  the  whole  of  the  Gulf  of 
Cariaco,  which  is  forty-two  miles  long,  and  from 
seven  to  nine  miles  broad,  affords  excellent  anchor- 
age. The  hurricanes  of  the  West  Indies  are  never 
experienced  on  these  coasts,  where  the  sea  is  con- 
stantly smooth,  or  only  slightly  agitated  by  an  east- 
erly wind.  The  sky  is  often  bright  along  the  shores, 
while  stormy  clouds  are  seen  to  gather  among  the 
mountains.  Thus,  as  at  the  foot  of  the  Andes,  on  the 
western  side  of  the  continent,  the  extremes  of  clear 
weather  and  fogs,  of  drought  and  heavy  rain,  of  ab- 
solute nakedness  and  perpetual  verdure,  present 
themselves  on  the  coasts  of  New- Andalusia. 

The  same  analogy  exists  as  to  earthquakes,  which 
are  frequent  and  violent  at  Cumana.  It  is  a  gene- 
rally received  opinion  that  the  Gulf  of  Cariaco  owed 
its  existence  to  a  rent  of  the  continent,  the  remem- 
brance of  which  was  fresh  in  the  minds  of  the  na- 
tives at  the  time  of  Columbus's  third  voyage.  In 
1530  the  coasts  of  Paria  and  Cumana  were  agitated 
by  shocks ;  and  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  earthquakes  and  inundations  very  often  oc- 
curred. On  the  21st  October,  1766,  the  city  of  Cu- 
mana was  entirely  destroyed  in  the  space  of  a  few 
minutes.  The  earth  opened  in  several  parts  of  the 
province,  and  emitted  sulphureous  waters.  During 


GENERAL  REMARKS  ON  EARTHQUAKES.    63 

the  years  1766  and  1767  the  inhabitants  encamped 
in  the  streets,  and  they  did  not  begin  to  rebuild  their 
houses  until  the  earthquakes  took  place  only  once 
in  four  weeks.  These  commotions  had  been  pre- 
ceded by  a  drought  of  fifteen  months,  and  were  ac- 
companied and  followed  by  torrents  of  rain,  which 
swelled  the  rivers. 

On  the  14th  December,  1797,  more  than  four-fifths 
of  the  city  were  again  entirely  destroyed.  Previous 
to  this  the  shocks  had  been  horizontal  oscillations ; 
but  the  shaking  now  felt  was  that  of  an  elevation 
of  the  ground,  and  was  attended  by  a  subterraneous 
noise,  like  the  explosion  of  a  mine  at  a  great  depth. 
The  most  violent  concussion,  however,  was  pre- 
ceded by  a  slight  undulating  motion,  so  that  the  in- 
habitants had  time  to  escape  into  the  streets ;  and 
only  a  few  perished,  who  had  betaken  themselves 
for  safety  to  the  churches.  Half  an  hour  before  the 
catastrophe,  a  strong  smell  of  sulphur  was  expe- 
rienced near  the  hill  of  the  convent  of  St.  Francis ; 
and  on  the  same  spot  an  internal  noise,  which  seemed 
to  pass  from  S .  E .  to  N.  W. ,  was  heard  loudest.  Flames 
appeared  on  the  banks  of  the  Manzanares  and  in  the 
Gulf  of  Cariaco.  In  describing  this  frightful  con- 
vulsion of  nature,  our  author  enters  upon  general 
views  respecting  earthquakes,  of  which  a  very  brief 
account  may  be  here  given. 

The  great  earthquakes  which  interrupt  the  long 
series  of  small  shocks  do  not  appear  to  have  any 
stated  times  at  Cumana,  as  they  have  occurred  at 
intervals  of  eighty,  of  a  hundred,  and  sometimes 
even  of  less  than  thirty  years ;  whereas,  on  the 
coasts  of  Peru, — at  Lima,  for  example, — there  is, 
without  doubt,  a  certain  degree  of  regularity  in  the 
periodical  devastations  thereby  occasioned. 

It  has  long  been  believed  at  Cumana,  Acapulco, 
and  Lima,  that  there  exists  a  perceptible  relation 
between  earthquakes  and  the  state  of  the  atmosphere 
which  precedes  these  phenomena.  On  the  coasts 


64  EARTHQUAKES. 

of  New- Andalusia  the  people  become  uneasy  when, 
in  excessively  hot  weather  and  after  long  drought, 
the  breeze  suddenly  ceases,  and  the  sky,  clear  at  the 
zenith,  presents  the  appearance  of  a  reddish  vapour 
near  the  horizon.  But  these  prognostics  are  very 
uncertain,  and  the  dreaded  evil  has  arrived  in  all 
kinds  of  weather. 

Under  the  tropics  the  regularity  of  the  horary  va- 
riations of  the  barometer  is  not  disturbed  on  the  days 
when  violent  shocks  occur.  In  like  manner,  in  the 
temperate  zone  the  aurora  borealis  does  not  always 
modify  the  variations  of  the  needle,  or  the  intensity 
of  the"  magnetic  forces. 

When  the  earth  is  open  and  agitated,  gaseous 
emanations  occasionally  escape  in  places  consider- 
ably remote  from  unextinguished  volcanoes.  At 
Cumana,  flames  and  sulphureous  vapours  spring 
from  the  arid  soil,  while  in  other  parts  of  the  same 
province  it  throws  out  water  and  petroleum.  At 
Riobamba,  a  muddy  inflammable  mass  called  moya 
issues  from  crevices  which  close  again,  and  forms 
elevated  heaps.  Flames  and  smoke  were  also  seen 
to  proceed  from  the  rocks  of  Alvidras,  near  Lisbon, 
during  the  earthquake  of  1755,  by  which  that  city 
was  ravaged.  But  in  the  greater  number  of  earth- 
quakes it  is  probable  that  no  elastic  fluids  escape 
from  the  ground,  and  when  gases  are  evolved,  they 
more  frequently  accompany  or  follow  than  precede 
the  shocks. 

The  subterranean  noise  which  so  frequently  at- 
tends earthquakes,  is  generally  not  proportionate  to 
the  strength  of  the  shocks.  At  Cumana  it  always 
precedes  them  ;  while  at  Quito,  and  for  some  time 
past  at  Caraccas  and  in  the  West  India  islands,  a 
noise  like  the  discharge  of  a  battery  was  heard  long 
after  the  agitation  had  ceased.  The  rolling  of  thun- 
der in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  which  continues  for 
months,  without  being  accompanied  by  the  least 
shaking,  is  a  very  remarkable  phenomenon 


EARTHQUAKES.  65 

In  all  countries  subject  to  earthquakes,  the  point 
at  which  the  effects  are  greatest  is  considered  as 
the  source  or  focus  of  the  shocks.  We  forget  that 
the  rapidity  with  which  the  undulations  are  propa- 
gated to  great  distances,  even  across  the  basin  of 
the  ocean,  proves  the  centre  of  action  to  be  very  re- 
mrte  from  the  earth's  surface.  Hence  it  is  clear 
that  earthquakes  are  not  restricted  to  certain  species 
of  rocks,  as  some  naturalists  assert,  but  pervade  all ; 
although  sometimes,  in  the  same  rock,  the  upper 
strata  seem  to  form  an  insuperable  obstacle  to  the 
propagation  of  the  motion.  It  is  curious  also,  that 
in  a  district  of  small  extent  certain  formations  in- 
terrupt the  shocks.  Thus,  at  Cumana,  before  the 
catastrophe  of  1797,  the  earthquakes  were  felt  only 
along  the  southern  or  calcareous  coast  of  the  Gulf 
of  Cariaco,  as  far  as  the  town  of  that  name,  while 
in  the  peninsula  of  Araya,  and  at  the  village  of  Man- 
iquarez,  the  ground  was  not  agitated.  At  present, 
however,  the  peninsula  is  as  liable  to  earthquakes 
as  the  district  around  Cumana. 

In  New- Andalusia,  as  in  Chili  and  Peru,  the  shocks 
follow  the  line  of  the  shore,  and  extend  but  little 
into  the  interior, — a  circumstance  which  indicates 
an  intimate  connexion  between  the  causes  that  pro- 
duce earthquakes  and  volcanic  eruptions.  If  the 
land  along  the  coasts  is  most  agitated  because  it  is 
generally  lowest,  why  should  not  the  shocks  be 
equally  strong  in  the  savannas,  which  are  only  a 
few  yards  above  the  level  of  the  sea  ? 

The  earthquakes  of  Cumana  are  connected  with 
those  of  the  West  Indies,  and  are  even  suspected  to 
have  some  relation  to  the  volcanic  phenomena  of 
the  Andes.  On  the  4th  November,  1797,  the  prov- 
ince of  Quito  underwent  so  violent  a  commotion  that 
40,000  persons  were  destroyed ;  and  at  the  same 
period  shocks  were  experienced  in  the  Eastern  An- 
tilles, followed  by  an  eruption  of  the  volcano  of 
Guadaloupe,  in  the  end  of  September,  1798.  On  the 
F2 


66  CUMANA. 

14th  December  the  great  concussion  took  place  at 
Cumana. 

It  has  long  been  remarked  that  earthquakes  ex- 
tend their  effects  to  much  greater  distances  than 
volcanoes  ;  and  it  is  probable,  as  has  just  been  men- 
tioned, that  the  causes  which  produce  the  former 
have  an  intimate  connexion  with  the  latter.  When 
se'ated  within  the  verge  of  a  burning  crater,  one  feels 
the  motion  of  the  ground  several  seconds  before 
each  partial  eruption.  The  phenomena  of  earth- 
quakes seem  strongly  to  indicate  the  action  of  elastic 
fluids  endeavouring  to  force  their  way  into  the  at- 
mosphere. On  the  shores  of  the  South  Sea  the 
concussion  is  almost  instantaneously  communicated 
from  Chili  to  the  Gulf  of  Guayaquil,  over  a  space 
of  2070  miles.  The  shocks  also  appear  to  be  so 
much  the  stronger  the  more  distant  the  country  is 
from  active  volcanoes ;  and  a  province  is  more 
agitated  the  smaller  the  number  of  funnels  by  which 
the  subterranean  cavities  communicate  with  the; 
open  air. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Residence  at  Cumana. 

Lunar  Halo — African  Slaves — Excursion  to  the  Peninsula  of  Araya — 
Geological  Constitution  of  the  Country — Salt- worts  of  Araya — Indians 
and  Mulattoes — Pearl-fishery— -Maniquarez — Mexican  Deer—  Spring- 
of  Naphtha. 

THE  occupations  of  our  travellers  were  much  dis- 
turbed during  the  first  weeks  of  their  abode  at  Cu- 
mana by  the  intrusion  of  persons  desirous  of  ex- 
amining their  astronomical  and  other  instruments. 
They  however  determined  the  latitude  of  the  great 
square  to  be  10°  27'  52",  and  its  longitude  66°  30'  2". 


LUNAR   HALOES AFRICAN   SLAVES.  67 

On  the  17th  of  August  a  halo  of  the  moon  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  inhabitant,  who  viewed  it  as 
the  presage  of  a  violent  earthquake.  Coloured  cir- 
cles of  this  kind,  Humboldt  remarks,  are  much  rarer 
in  the  northern  than  in  the  southern  countries  of  Eu- 
rope. They  are  seen  more  especially  when  the  sky 
is  clear  and  the  weather  settled.  In  the  torrid  zone 
they  appear  almost  every  night,  and  often  in  the 
space  of  a  few  minutes  disappear  several  times. 
Between  the  latitude  of  15°  N.  and  the  equator  he 
has  seen  small  haloes  around  the  planet  Venus,  but 
never  observed  any  in  connexion  with  the  fixed  stars. 
While  the  halo  was  seen  at  Cumana,  the  hygrome- 
ter indicated  great  humidity,  although  the  atmo- 
sphere was  perfectly  transparent.  It  consisted  of 
two  circles ;  a  larger,  of  a  whitish  colour,  and  44° 
in  diameter,  and  a  smaller,  displaying  all  the  tints 
of  the  rainbow,  and  1°  43'  in  diameter.  The  inter- 
mediate space  .was  of  the  deepest  azure. 

Part  of  the  great  square  is  surrounded  with  ar- 
cades, over  which  is  a  long  wooden  gallery,  where 
slaves  imported  from  the  coast  of  Africa  are  sold. 
These  were  young  men  from  fifteen  to  twenty  years 
of  age.  Every  morning  cocoanut  oil  was  given 
them,  with  which  they  rubbed  their  skin,  to  render  it 
glossy.  The  persons  who  came  to  purchase  them 
examined  their  teeth,  as  we  do  those  of  horses,  to 
judge  of  their  age  and  health.  Yet  the  Spanish 
laws,  according  to  our  author,  have  never  favoured 
the  trade  in  African  slaves,  the  number  of  whom  in 
1800  did  not  exceed  6000  in  the  two  provinces  of 
Cumana  and  Barcelona,  while  the  whole  population 
was  estimated  at  110,000. 

The  first  excursion  which  our  travellers  made  was 
to  the  peninsula  of  Araya.  They  embarked  on  the 
Manzanares,  near  the  Indian  suburb,  about  two  in 
the  morning  of  the  19th  August.  The  night  was 
delightfully  cool.  Swarms  of  shining  insects  (Elater 
wctilucus)  sparkled  in  the  air  along  the  banks  of  the 


68  EXCURSION   TO    ARAYA. 

river.  As  the  boat  descended  the  stream,  they  ob- 
served a  company  of  negroes  dancing  to  the  music 
of  the  guitar  by  the  light  of  bonfires, — a  practice 
which  they  prefer  to  mere  relaxation  or  sleep,  on 
their  days  of  rest. 

The  bark  in  which  they  passed  the  Gulf  of  Cari- 
aco  was  commodious,  and  large  skins  of  the  jaguar 
were  spread  for  their  repose  during  the  night.  The 
cold,  however,  prevented  them  from  sleeping,  al- 
though, as  they  were  surprised  to  find,  the  ther- 
mometer was  as  high  as  71-2°.  The  circumstance 
that  in  a  warm  country  a  degree  of  cold  which  would 
be  productive  of  no  inconvenience  to  the  inhabitant 
of  a  temperate  climate,  excites  a  disagreeable  feel- 
ing, is  worthy  of  the  attention  of  physiologists. 
When  Bouguer  reached  the  summit  of  Pelee,  in  the 
island  of  Martinico,  he  trembled  with  cold,  although 
the  heat  was  above  70'7° ;  and  in  heavy  showers 
at  Cum  ana,  when  the  thermometer  indicates  the 
same  temperature,  the  inhabitants  make  bitter  com- 
plaints. 

About  eight  in  the  morning  they  landed  at  the 
point  of  Araya,  near  .the  new  salt -works,  which  are 
situated  in  a  plain  destitute  of  vegetation.  From 
this  spot  are  seen  the  islet  of  Cubagua,  the  lofty 
hills  of  Margaretta,  the  ruins  of  the  castle  of  St. 
Jago,  the  Cerro  de  la  Vela,  and  the  limestone  ridge 
of  the  Bergantin,  bounding  the  horizon  towards  the 
south.  Here  salt  is  procured  by  digging  brine-pits 
in  the  clayey  soil,  which  is  impregnated  with  mu- 
riate of  soda.  In  1799  and  1800  the  consumption 
of  this  article  in  the  provinces  of  Cumana  and  Bar- 
celona amounted  to  9000  or  10,000  fanegas,  each 
16  arrobas,  or  405jlbs.  avoirdupois.  Of  this  quan- 
tity the  salt-works  of  Araya  yield  only  about  a 
third  part ;  the  rest  being  obtained  from  sea-water 
in  the  Morro  of  Barcelona,  at  Pozuelos,  at  Piritu, 
and  in  the  Golfo  Triste. 
In  order  to  understand  the  geological  relations  of 


PENINSULA   OF   ARAYA.  69 

this  saliferous  clay,  it  is  necessary  to  follow  our 
author  in  his  exposition  of  the  nature  of  the  neigh- 
bouring country.  Three  great  parallel  chains  of 
mountains  extend  from  east  to  west.  The  two 
most  northerly,  which  are  primitive,  constitute  the 
Cordilleras  of  the  island  of  Margaretta,  as  well  as 
of  Araya.  The  most  southerly,  the  cordillera  of 
Bergantin  and  Cocollar,  is  secondary,  although  more 
elevated  than  the  others.  The  two  former  have 
been  separated  by  the  sea,  and  the  islets  of  Coche 
and  Cubagua  are  supposed  to  be  remnants  of  the 
submersed  land.  The  Gulf  of  Cariaco  divides  the 
chains  of  Araya  and  Cocollar,  which  were  connected, 
to  the  east  of  the  town  of  Cariaco,  between  the 
lakes  of  Campoma  and  Putaquao,  by  a  kind  of  dike. 
This  barrier,  which  had  the  name  of  Cerro  de  Mea- 
pire,  prevented  in  remote  times  the  waters  of  the 
Gulf  of  Cariaco  from  uniting  with  those  of  the  Gulf 
of  Paria. 

The  western  slope  of  the  peninsula  of  Araya  and 
the  plains  on  which  rises  the  castle  of  St.  Antony 
are  covered  with  recent  deposites  of  sandstone,  clay, 
and  gypsum.  Near  Manifuarez,  a  conglomerate 
with  calcareous  cement  rests  on  the  mica-slate; 
while  on  the  opposite  side,  near  Punta  Delgada,  it  is 
superimposed  on  a  compact  bluish-gray  limestone, 
containing  a  few  organic  remains,  traversed  by 
small  veins  of  calcareous  spar,  and  analogous  to  that 
of  the  Alps. 

The  saliferous  clay  is  generally  of  a  smoke--gray 
colour,  earthy  and  friable,  but  encloses  masses  of  a 
dark-brown  tint  and  more  solid  texture.  Selenite 
and  fibrous  gypsum  are  disseminated  in  it.  Scarcely 
any  shells  are  to  be  seen,  although  the  adjacent 
rocks  contain  abundance  of  them.  The  muriate  of 
soda  is  not  discoverable  by  the  naked  eye  ;  but  when 
a  mass  is  sprinkled  with  rainwater  and  exposed  to 
the  sun,  it  appears  in  large  crystals.  In  the  marsh 
to  the  east  of  the  castle  of  St.  Jago,  which  receives 


70          .  SALT-WORKS    OF   ARAYA. 

only  rainwater,  crystallized  and  very  pure  muriate 
of  soda  forms,  after  great  droughts,  in  masses  of 
large  size.  The  new  salt-works  of  Araya  have  five 
very  extensive  reservoirs  with  a  depth  of  eight 
inches,  and  are  supplied  partly  with  seawater  and 
partly  with  rain.  The  evaporation  is  so  rapid  that 
salt  is  collected  in  eighteen  or  twenty  days  after 
they  are  filled  ;  and  it  is  freer  from  earthy  muriates 
and  sulphates  than  that  of  Europe,  although  manu- 
factured with  less  care. 

After  examining  these  works,  they  departed  at 
the  decline  of  day,  and  proceeded  towards  an  Indian 
cabin  some  miles  distant.  Night  overtook  them  in 
a  narrow  path  between  a  range  of  perpendicular 
rocks  and  the  sea.  Arriving  at  the  foot  of  the  old 
castle  of  Araya,  which  stands  on  a  bare  and  arid 
mountain,  and  is  crowned  with  agave,  columnar 
cactus,  and  prickly  mimosas,  they  were  desirous  of 
stopping  to  admire  the  majestic  spectacle,  and  ob- 
serve the  setting  of  the  planet  Venus ;  but  their 
guide,  who  was  parched  with  thirst,  earnestly  urged 
them  to  return,  and  hoped  to  work  on  their  fears  by 
continually  warning  them  of  jaguars  and  rattle- 
snakes. They  at  length  yielded  to  his  solicitations'; 
but  after  proceeding  three-quarters  of  an  hour  along 
a  shore  covered  by  the  tide  they  were  joined  by  the 
negro  that  carried  their  provisions,  who  led  them 
through  a  wood  of  nopals  to  the  hut  of  an  Indian, 
where  they  were  received  with  cordial  hospitality. 
The  several  classes  of  natives  in  this  district  live  by 
catching  fish,  part  of  which  they  carry  to  Cumana. 
The  wealth  of  the  inhabitants  consists  chiefly  of 
goats,  which  are  of  a  very  large  size,  and  brownish- 
yellow  colour.  They  are  marked  like  the  mules, 
and  roam  at  large. 

Among  the  mulattoes,  whose  hovels  surrounded 
the  salt-lake  near  which  they  had  passed  the  night, 
they  found  an  indigent  Spanish  cobbler,  who  received 
them  with  an  air  of  gravity  and  importance.  After 


PEARL-FISHERIES.  '          71 

amusing  them  with  a  display  of  his  knowledge,  he 
drew  from  a  leathern  bag  a  few  very  small  pearls, 
which  he  forced  them  to  accept,  enjoining  them  to 
note  on  their  tablets,  "  that  a  poor  shoemaker  of 
Araya,  but  a  white  man,  and  of  noble  Castilian  de- 
scent, was  enabled  to  give  them  what  on  the  other 
side  of  the  sea  would  be  sought  for  as  a  thing  of 
great  value." 

The  pearl-shell  (Avicula  margaritifera)  is  abundant 
on  the  shoals  which  extend  from  Cape  Paria  to  the 
Cape  of  Vela.  Margarita,  Cubagua,  Coche,  Punta 
Araya,  and  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  la  Hacha  were  as 
celebrated  in  the  sixteenth  century  for  them  as  the 
Persian  Gulf  was  among  the  ancients.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  the  conquest  the  island  of  Coche  alone 
furnished  1500  marks  (1029  troy  pounds)  monthly. 
The  portion  which  the  king's  officers  drew  from  the 
produce  of  the  pearls  amounted  to  3406Z.  5s.  ;  and 
it  would  appear  that  up  to  1530  the  value  of  those 
sent  to  Europe  amounted,  at  a  yearly  average,  to 
more  than  130,OOOZ.  Towards  the  end  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  this  fishery  diminished  rapidly ;  and, 
according  to  Laet,  had  been  long  given  up  in  1683. 
The  artificial  imitations,  and  the  great  diminution 
of  the  shells,  rendered  it  less  lucrative.  At  present, 
the  Gulf  of  Panama  and  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  de  la 
Hacha  are  the  only  parts  of  South  America  in  which 
this  branch  of  industry  is  continued. 

On  the  morning  of  the  20th,  a  young  Indian  con- 
ducted the  travellers  over  Barigon  and  Caney  to  the 
village  of  Maniquarez.  The  thermometer  kept  as 
high  as  78*5°,  and  before  their  guide  had  travelled  a 
league  he  frequently  sat  down  to  rest  himself,  and 
expressed  a  desire  to  repose  under  the  shade  of  a 
tamarind-tree  until  night  should  approach.  Hum- 
boldt  explains  the  circumstance,  that  the  natives 
complain  more  of  lassitude  under  an  intense  heat 
than  Europeans  not  inured  to  it,  by  a  reference  to 


72  GEOLOGICAL    PHENOMENA. 

their  listless  disposition,  and  their  not  being  excited 
by  the  same  stimulus. 

In  crossing  the  arid  hills  of  Cape  Cirial,  they  per- 
ceived a  strong  smell  of  petroleum,  the  wind  blow- 
ing from  the  side  where  the  springs  of  that  sub- 
stance occur.  Near  the  village  of  Maniquarez,  they 
found  the  mica-slate  cropping  out  from  below  the 
secondary  rocks.  It  was  of  a  silvery  white,  con- 
tained garnets,  and  was  traversed  by  small  layers 
of  quartz.  From  a  detached  block  of  this  last,  found 
on  the  shore,  they  separated  a  fragment  of  cyanite, 
the  only  specimen  of  that  mineral  seen  by  them  in 
South  America. 

A  rude  manufacture  of  pottery  is  carried  on  at 
that  hamlet  by  the  Indian  women.  The  clay  is  pro- 
duced by  the  decomposition  of  mica-slate,  and  is  of 
a  reddish  colour.  The  natives,  being  unacquainted 
with  the  use  of  ovens,  place  twigs  around  the  ves- 
sels, and  bake  them  in  the  open  air. 

At  the  same  place  they  met  with  some  Creoles 
who  had  been  hunting  small  deer  in  the  uninhabited 
islet  of  Cubagua,  where  they  are  very  abundant. 
These  creatures  are  of  a  brownish-red  hue,  spotted 
with  white,  and  of  the  latter  colour  beneath.  They 
belong  to  the  species  named  by  naturalists  Cervus 
Mexicanus. 

In  the  estimation  of  the  natives,  the  most  curious 
production  of  the  coast  of  Araya  is  what  they  call 
the  eye-stone.  They  consider  it  as  both  a  stone  and 
an  animal,  and  assert  that  when  it  is  found  in  the 
sand  it  is  motionless ;  whereas  on  a  polished  surface, 
as  an  earthen  plate,  it  moves  when  stimulated  by 
lemon-juice.  When  introduced  into  the  eye  it  ex- 
pels every  other  substance  that  may  have  accident- 
ally insinuated  itself.  The  people  offered  these 
stones  to  the  travellers  by  hundreds,  and  wished  to 
put  sand  into  their  eyes,  that  they  might  try  the 
power  of  this  wondrous  remedy ;  which,  however, 


EXCURSION    TO    SAN    FERNANDO.  73 

was  nothing  else  than  the  operculum  of  a  small 
shellfish. 

Near  Cape  de  la  Brea,  at  the  distance  of  eighty 
feet  from  the  shore,  is  a  small  stream  of  naphtha, 
the  produce  of  which  covers  the  sea  to  a  great  ex- 
tent. It  is  a  singular  circumstance  that  this  spring 
issues  from  mica-slate,  all  others  that  are  known 
belonging  to  secondary  deposites. 

After  examining  the  neighbourhood  of  Mani- 
quarez,  the  adventurers  embarked  at  night  in  a  small 
fishing-boat,  so  leaky  that  a  person  was  constantly 
employed  in  baling  out  the  water  with  a  calabash, 
and  arrived  in  safety  at  Cumana. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

Missions  of  the  Chaymas. 

Excursion  to  the  Missions  of  the  Chayma  Indians— Remarks  on  Cul- 
tivation— The  Impossible — Aspect  of  the  Vegetation — San  Fernando — 
Account  of  a  Man  who  suckled  a  Child — Cumanacoa — Cultivation  of 
Tobacco— Igneous  Exhalations— Jaguars— Mountain  of  Cocollar— 
Turimiquiri— Missions  of  San  Antonio  and  Guanaguana. 

ON  the  4th  of  September,  at  an  early  hour,  our 
travellers  commenced  an  excursion  to  the  missionary 
stations  of  the  Chayma  Indians,  and  to  the  lofty 
mountains  which  traverse  New-Andalusia.  The 
morning  was  deliciously  cool ;  and  from  the  summit 
of  the  hill  of  San  Francisco  they  enjoyed  in  the  short 
twilight  an  extensive  view  of  the  sea,  the  adjacent 
plain,  and  the  distant  peaks.  After  walking  two 
hours  they  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  chain,  where 
they  found  different  rocks,  together  with  a  new  and 
more  luxuriant  vegetation.  They  observed  that  the 
latter  was  more  brilliant  wherever  the  limestone  was 
G 


74  STATE    OF    CULTIVATION. 

covered  by  a  quartzy  sandstone, — a  circumstance 
which  probably  depends  not  so  much  on  the  nature 
of  the  soil  as  on  its  greater  humidity  ;  the  thin  layers 
of  slate-clay,  which  the  latter  contains,  preventing 
the  water  from  filtering  into  the  crevices  of  the 
former.  In  those  moist  places  they  always  dis- 
covered appearances  of  cultivation,  huts  inhabited 
by  mestizoes,  and  placed  in  the  centre  of  small  en- 
closures, containing  papaws,  plantains,  sugar-canes, 
and  maize.  In  Europe,  the  wheat,  barley,  and  other 
kinds  of  grain  cover  vast  spaces  of  ground,  and,  in 
general,  wherever  the  inhabitants  live  upon  corn,  the 
cultivated  lands  are  not  separated  from  each  other 
by  the  intervention  of  large  wastes ;  but  in  the  tor- 
rid zone,  where  the  fertility  of  the  soil  is  propor- 
tionate to  the  heat  and  humidity  of  the  air,  and  where 
man  has  appropriated  plants  that  yield  earlier  and 
more  abundant  crops,  an  immense  population  finds 
ample  subsistence  on  a  narrow  space.  The  scat- 
tered disposition  of  the  huts  in  the  midst  of  the  forest 
indicates  to  the  traveller  the  fecundity  of  nature. 

In  so  mild  and  uniform  a  climate  the  only  urgent 
want  of  man  is  that  of  food ;  and  in  the  midst  of 
abundance  his  intellectual  faculties  receive  less  im- 
provement than  in  colder  regions,  where  his  neces- 
sities are  numerous  and  diversified.  While  in  Eu- 
rope we  judge  of  the  inhabitants  of  a  country  by  the 
extent  of  laboured  ground ;  in  the  warmest  parts  of 
South  America  populous  provinces  seem  to  the 
traveller  almost  deserted,  because  a  very  small  ex- 
tent of  soil  is  sufficient  for  the  maintenance  of  a 
family.  The  insulated  state  in  which  the  natives 
thus  live  prevents  any  rapid  progress  of  civilization, 
although  it  develops  the  sentiments  of  independence 
and  liberty. 

As  the  travellers  penetrated  into  the  forests  the 
barometer  indicated  the  progressive  elevation  of  the 
land.  About  three  in  the  afternoon  they  halted  on 
a  small  flat,  where  a  few  houses  had  been  erected 


THE    IMPOSSIBLE.  75 

near  a  spring,  the  water  of  which  they  found  de- 
licious. Its  temperature  was  72*5°,  while  that  of 
the  air  was  83  '7°.  From  the  top  of  a  sandstone-hill 
in  the  vicinity  they  had  a  splendid  view  of  the  sea 
and  part  of  the  coast,  while  in  the  intervening  space 
the  tops  of  the  trees,  intermixed  with  flowery  lianas, 
formed  a  vast  carpet  of  deep  verdure.  As  they  ad- 
vanced towards  the  south-west  the  soil  became  dry 
and  loose.  They  ascended  a  group  of  rather  high 
mountains,  destitute  of  vegetation,  and  having  steep 
declivities.  This  ridge  is  named  the  Impossible,  it 
being  imagined  that  in  case  of  invasion  it  might 
afford  a  safe  retreat  to  the  inhabitants  of  Cumana. 
The  prospect  was  finer  and  more  extensive  than 
from  the  fountain  above  mentioned. 

They  arrived  on  the  summit  only  a  little  before 
dusk.  The  setting  of  the  sun  was  accompanied  by 
a  very  rapid  diminution  of  temperature,  the  ther- 
mometer suddenly  falling  from  77 '4°  to  70'S^, 
although  the  air  was  calm.  They  passed  the  night 
in  a  house  at  which  there  was  a  military  post  of  eight 
men,  commanded  by  a  Spanish  sergeant.  When, 
afte'r  the  capture  of  Trinidad  by  the  English  in  1797, 
Cumana  was  threatened,  many  of  the  people  fled 
to  Cumanacoa,  leaving  the  more  valuable  of  their 
property  in  sheds  constructed  on  this  ridge.  The 
solitude  of  the  place  reminded  Humboldt  of  the 
nights  which  he  had  passed  on  the  top  of  St.  Gothard. 
Several  parts  of  the  surrounding  forests  were  burn- 
ing, and  the  reddish  flames  arising  amid  clouds  of 
smoke,  presented  a  most  impressive  spectacle.  The 
shepherds  set  fire  to  the  woods  for  the  purpose  of 
improving  the  pasturage,  though  conflagrations  are 
often  caused  by  the  negligence  of  the  wandering 
Indians.  The  number  of  old  trees  on  the  road  from 
Cumana  to  Cumanacoa  has  been  greatly  reduced  by 
these  accidents  ;  and  in  several  parts  of  the  province 
the  dryness  has  increased,  owing  both  to  the  dimi- 
nution of  the  forests  and  the  frequency  of  earth- 
.  quakes  which  produce  crevices  in  the  soil. 


76  VEGETATION    OF    NEW-ANDALUSIA. 

Leaving  the  Impossible  on  the  5th  before  sunrise, 
they  descended  by  a  very  narrow  path  bordering  on 
precipices.  The  summit  of  the  ridge  was  of  quartzy 
sandstone,  beneath  which  the  alpine  limestone  re- 
appeared. The  strata  being  generally  inclined  to 
the  south,  numerous  springs  gush  out  on  that  side, 
and  in  the  rainy  season  form  torrents  which  fall  in 
cascades,  shaded  by  the  hura,  the  cuspa,  and  the 
trumpet-tree.  The  cuspa,  which  is  common  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Ciimana,  had  long  been  used  for 
carpenter-work,  but  has  of  late  attracted  notice  as  a 
powerful  tonic  or  febrifuge. 

Emerging  from  the  ravine  which  opens  at  the 
foot  of  the  mountain,  they  entered  a  dense  forest, 
traversed  by  numerous  small  rivers,  which  were 
easily  forded.  They  observed  that  the  leaves  of  the 
cecropia  were  more  or  less  silvery  according  as  the 
soil  was  dry  or  marshy,  and  specimens  occurred  in 
which  they  were  entirely  green  on  both  sides.  The 
roots  of  these  shrubs  were  concealed  beneath  tufts 
of  dorstenia,  a  plant  which  thrives  only  in  shady  and 
moist  places.  In  the  midst  of  the  forest  they  found 
papaws  and  orange-trees  bearing  excellent  fruit, 
which  they  conjectured  to  be  the  remains  of  some 
Indian  plantations,  as  in  these  countries  they  are 
no  more  indigenous  than  the  banana,  the  maize,  the 
manioc,  and  the  many  other  useful  plants  whose 
native  country  is  unknown,  although  they  have  ac- 
companied man  in  his  migrations  from  the  most  re- 
mote periods. 

"  When  a  traveller  newly  arrived  from  Europe," 
says  Humboldt,  "  penetrates  for  the  first  time  into 
the  forests  of  South  America,  nature  presents  herself 
to  his  view  in  an  unexpected  aspect :  the  objects  by 
which  he  is  surrounded  bear  but  a  faint  resemblance 
to  the  pictures  drawn  by  celebrated  writers  on  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi,  in  Florida,  and  in  other 
temperate  regions  of  the  New  World.  He  per- 
ceives at  every  step  that  he  is  not  upon  the  verge, 


FOREST    BIRDS. 

but  in  the  centre  of  the  torrid  zone, — not  in  one  of 
the  West  India  islands,  but  upon  a  vast  continent, 
where  the  mountains,  the  rivers,  the  mass  of  vege- 
tation, and  every  thing  else  are  gigantic.  If  he  be 
sensible  to  the  beauties  of  rural  scenery,  he  finds  it 
difficult  to  account  to  himself  for  the  diversified 
feelings  which  he  experiences :  he  is  unable  to  de- 
termine what  most  excites  his  admiration  ;  whether 
the  solemn  silence  of  the  wilderness,  or  the  indi- 
vidual beauty  and  contrast  of  the  forms,  or  the  vigour 
and  freshness  of  vegetable  life,  that  characterize  the 
climate  of  the  tropics.  It  might  be  said  that  the 
earth,  overloaded  with  plants,  does  not  leave  them 
room  enough  for  growth.  The  trunks  of  the  trees 
are  everywhere  covered  with  a  thick  carpet  of  ver- 
dure ;  and  were  the  orchidese  and  the  plants  of  the 
genera  piper  and  pothos,  which  grow  upon  a  single 
courbaril  or  American  fig-tree,  transferred  to  the 
ground,  they  would  cover  a  large  space.  By  this 
singular  denseness  of  vegetation,  the  forests,  like 
the  rocks  and  mountains,  enlarge  the  domain  of  or- 
ganic nature.  The  same  lianas  which  creep  along 
the  ground  rise  to  the  tops  of  the  trees,  and  pass 
from  the  one  to  the  other  at  a  height  of  more  than 
a  hundred  feet.  In  consequence  of  this  intermixture 
of  parasitic  plants,  the  botanist  is  often  led  to  con- 
found the  flowers,  fruits,  and  foliage  which  belong 
to  different  species." 

The  philosophers  walked  for  some  hours  under 
the  shade  of  these  arches,  which  scarcely  admitted 
an  occasional  glimpse  of  the  clear  blue  sky,  and  for 
the  first  time  admired  the  pendulous  nests  of  the 
orioles,  which  mingled  their  warblings  with  the  cries 
of  the  parrots  and  macaws.  The  latter  fly  only  in 
pairs,  while  the  former  are  seen  in  flocks  of  several 
hundreds.  At  the  distance  of  about  a  league  from 
the  village  of  San  Fernando,  they  issued  from  the 
woods,  and  entered  an  open  country,  covered  with 
aquatic  plants  from  eight  to  ten  feet  high ;  there 
G2 


78  SAN   FERNANDO. 

being  no  meadows  or  pastures  in  the  lower  parts  of 
the  torrid  zone,  as  in  Europe.  The  road  was  bor- 
dered with  a  kind  of  bamboo,  rising  more  thaa  forty 
feet.  These  plants,  according  to  Humboldt,  are  less 
common  in  America  than  is  usually  supposed,  al- 
though they  form  dense  woods  in  New- Grenada  and 
Quito,  and' occur  abundantly  on  the  western  slope  of 
the  Andes. 

They  now  entered  San  Fernando,  which  is  situ- 
ated in  a  narrow  plain,  and  bounded  by  limestone 
rocks.  This  was  the  first  missionary  station  they 
saw  in  America.  The  houses  of  the  Chayma  In- 
dians were  built  of  clay,  strengthened  by  lianas,  and 
the  streets  were  straight,  and  intersected  each  other 
at  right  angles.  The  great  square  in  the  centre  of 
the  village  contains  the  church,  the  house  of  the 
missionary,  and  another,  destined  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  travellers,  which  bears  the  pompous  name 
of  the  king's  house  (Casa  del  Rey).  These  royal 
residences  occur  in  all  the  Spanish  settlements,  and 
are  of  the  greatest  benefit  in  countries  where  there 
are  no  inns. 

They  had  been  recommended  to  the  friars  who 
superintend  the  missions  of  the  Chaymas,  by  their 
syndic  at  Cumana,  and  the  superior,  a  corpulent  and 
jolly  old  capuchin,  received  them  with  kindness. 
This  respectable  personage,  seated  the  greater  part 
of  the  day  in  an  arm-chair,  eomplained  bitterly  of 
the  indolence  of  his  countrymen.  He  considered 
the  pursuits  of  the  travellers  as  useless,  smiled  at 
the  sight  of  their  instruments  and  dried  plants,  and 
maintained  that  of  all  the  enjoyments  of  life,  with- 
out excepting  sleep,  none  could  be  compared  with 
the  pleasure  of  eating  good  beef. 

This  mission  was  founded  about  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  near  the  junction  of  the  Man- 
zanares  and  Lucasperez ;  but,  in  consequence  of  a 
fire,  was  removed  to  its  present  situation.  The  num- 
ber of  families  now  amounted  to  a  hundred,  and  as  the 


FRANCISCO   LOZANO— -CUMANACOA.  79 

head  of  the  establishment  observed,  the  custom  of 
marrying  at  a  very  early  age  contributes  greatly  to 
the  rapid  increase  of  population. 

In  the  village  of  Arenas,  which  is  inhabited  by 
Indians  of  the  same  race  as  those  of  San  Fernando, 
there  lived  a  labourer,  Francisco  Lozano,  who  had 
suckled  a  child.  Its  mother  happening  to  be  sick, 
he  took  it,  and  in  order  to  quiet  it,  pressed  it  to  his 
breast,  when  the  stimulus  imparted  by  the  sucking 
of  the  child  caused  a  flow  of  milk.  The  travellers 
saw  the  certificate  drawn  up  on  the  spot  to  attest 
this  remarkable  fact,  of  which  several  eyewitnesses 
were  still  living.  The  man  was  not  at  Arenas  during 
their  stay  at  the  mission,  but  afterward  visited  them 
at  Cumana^.  accompanied  by  his  son,  when  M.  Bon- 
pland  examined  his  breasts,  and  found  them  wrinkled, 
like  those  of  women  who  have  nursed.  He  was 
not  an  Indian,  but  a  white  descended  from  European 
parents.  Alexander  Benedictus  relates  a  similar 
case  of  an  inhabitant  of  Syria,  and  other  authors 
have  given  examples  of  the  same  nature. 

Returning  towards  Cumana,  they  entered  the  small 
town  of  Cumanacoa,  situated  in  a  naked  and  almost 
circular  plain,  surrounded  by  lofty  mountains,  and 
containing  about  two  thousand  three  hundred  inhabit- 
ants. The  houses  were  low  and  slight,  and  with  very 
few  exceptions  built  of  wood.  The  travellers  were 
surprised  to  find  the  column  of  mercury  in  the  ba- 
rometer scarcely  7'3  lines  shorter  than  on  the  coast. 
The  hollow  in  which  the  town  is  erected  is  not  more 
than  665  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  only 
seven  leagues  from  Cumana;  but  the  climate  is 
much  colder  than  in  the  latter  place,  where  it  scarcely 
ever  rains  ;  whereas  at  Cumanacoa  there  are  seven 
months  of  severe  weather.  It  was  during  the  winter 
season  that  our  travellers  visited  the  missions.  A 
dense  fog  covered  the  sky  every  night ;  the  ther- 
mometer varied  from  64 '8°  to  68°  ;  and  Deluc's  hy- 
grometer indicated  85°.  At  ten  in  the  morning  the 


SO  TOBACCO. 

thermometer  did  not  rise  above  69 '8°,  but  from  noon 
to  three  o'clock  attained  the  height  of  from  78'8°  to 
80-6°.  About  two,  large  black  clouds  regularly 
formed,  and  poured  down  torrents  of  rain,  accom- 
panied by  thunder.  At  five  the  rain  ceased,  and  the 
sun  reappeared ;  but  at  eight  or  nine  the  fog  again 
commenced.  In  consequence  of  the  humidity,  the 
vegetation,  although  not  very  diversified,  is  remark- 
able for  its  freshness.  The  soil  is  highly  fertile ; 
but  the  most  valuable  production  of  the  district  is 
tobacco,  the  cultivation  of  which,  in  the  province  of 
Cumana,  is  nearly  confined  to  this  valley. 

Next  to  the  tobacco  of  Cuba  and  the  Rio  Negro, 
that  grown  here  is  the  most  aromatic.  The  seed  is 
sown  in  the  beginning  of  September,  and  the  coty- 
ledons appear  on  the  eighth  day.  The  young  plants 
are  then  covered  with  large  leaves  to  protect  them 
from  the  sun.  A  month  or  two  after,  they  are  trans- 
ferred to  a  rich  and  well-prepared  soil,  and  disposed 
in  rows,  three  or  four  feet  distant  from  each  other. 
The  whole  is  carefully  weeded,  and  the  principal 
stalk  is  several  times  topped,  until  the  leaves  are 
mature,  when  they  are  gathered.  They  are  then 
suspended  by  threads  of  the  Agave  Americana,  and 
their  ribs  taken  out ;  after  which  they  are  twisted. 
The  cultivation  of  tobacco  was  a  royal  monopoly, 
and  employed  about  1500  persons.  Indigo  is  also 
raised  in  the  valley  of  Cumanacoa. 

This  singular  plain  appeared  to  be  the  bed  of  an 
ancient  lake.  The  surrounding  mountains  are  all 
precipitous,  and  the  soil  contains  pebbles  and  bivalve 
shells.  One  of  the  gaps  in  the  range,  they  were  in- 
formed, was  inhabited  by  jaguars,  which  passed  the 
day  in  caves,  and  roamed  about  the  plantations  at 
night.  The  preceding  year  one  of  them  had  de- 
voured a  horse  belonging  to  a  farm  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. The  groans  of  the  dying  animal  awoke  the 
slaves,  who  went  out  armed  with  lances  and  large 


JAGUARS SEARCH  FOR  A  GOLD  MINE.    81 

knives,  with  which  they  despatched  the  tiger  after  a 
vigorous  resistance. 

From  two  caverns  in  this  ravine  there  at  times 
issue  flames,  which  illumine  the  adjacent  mountains, 
and  are  seen  to  a  great  distance  at  night.  The  phe- 
nomenon was  accompanied  by  a  long-continued  sub- 
terraneous noise  at  the  time  of  the  last  earthquake. 
A  first  attempt  to  penetrate  into  this  pass  was  ren- 
dered unsuccessful,  by  the  strength  of  the  vegeta- 
tion and  the  intertwining  of  lianas  and  thorny  plants ; 
but  the  inhabitants  becoming  interested  in  the  re- 
searches of  the  travellers,  and  being  desirous  to 
know  what  the  German  miner  thought  of  the  gold 
ore  which  they  imagined  to  exist  in  it,  cleared  a  path 
through  the  woods.  On  entering  the  ravine,  they 
found  traces  of  jaguars ;  and  the  Indians  returned  for 
some  small  dogs  upon  which  they  knew  these  ani- 
mals would  spring  in  preference  to  attacking  a  man. 
The  rocks  that  bound  it  are  perpendicular,  and  what 
geologists  term  alpine  limestone.  The  excursion 
was  rendered  hazardous  by  the  nature  of  the  ground ; 
but  they  at  length  reached  the  pretended  gold  mine, 
which  was  merely  an  excavation  in  a  bed  of  black 
marl  containing  iron  pyrites,  a  substance  which  the 
guides  insisted  was  no  other  than  the  precious 
metal. 

They  continued  to  penetrate  into  the  crevice,  and 
after  undergoing  great  fatigue,  reached  a  wall  of 
rock,  which-,  rising  perpendicularly  to  the  height  of 
5116  feet,  presented  two  inaccessible  caverns  inhab- 
ited by  nocturnal  birds.  Halting  at  the  foot  of  one 
of  the  caves  from  which  flames  had  been  seen  to 
issue,  they  listened  to  the  remarks  of  the  natives 
respecting  the  probability  of  an  increase  in  the  fre- 
quency of  the  agitations  to  which  New -Andalusia 
had  so  often  been  subjected.  The  cause  of  the  lu- 
minous exhalations,  however,  they  were  unable  to 
ascertain. 

On  the  12th,  they  continued  their  journey  to  the 


82  VIEW    FROM    THE    COCOLLAR. 

convent  of  Caripe,  the  principal  station  of  the  Chay- 
ma  missions,  choosing,  instead  of  the  direct  road, 
the  line  of  the  mountains  Cocollar  and  Turimiquiri. 
At  the  Hato  de  Cocollar,  a  solitary  farm  situated  on 
a  small  elevated  plain,  they  rested  for  some  time, 
and  had  the  good  fortune  to  enjoy  at  once  a  delight- 
ful climate  and  the  hospitality  of  the  proprietor. 
From  this  elevated  point,  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach,  they  saw  only  naked  savannas,  although  in 
the  neighbouring  valleys  they  found  tufts  of  scat- 
tered trees>  and  a  profusion  of  beautiful  flowers. 
The  upper  part  of  the  mountain  was  destitute  of 
wood,  though  covered  with  gramineous  plants — a 
circumstance  which  Humboldt  attributes  more  to 
the  custom  of  burning  the  forests  than  to  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  ground,  which  is  not  sufficient  to  prevent 
the  growth  of  trees. 

Their  host,  Don  Mathias  Yturburi,  a  native  of 
Biscay,  had  visited  the  New  World  with  an  expedi- 
tion, the  object  of  which  was  to  form  establishments 
for  procuring  timber  for  the  Spanish  navy.  But 
these  natives  of  a  colder  climate  were  unable  to  sup- 
port the  fatigue  of  so  laborious  an  occupation,  the 
heat,  and  the  effect  of  noxious  vapours.  Destruc- 
tive fevers  carried  off  most  of  the  party,  when  this 
individual  withdrew  from  the  coast,  and  settling  on 
the  Cocollar,  became  the  undisturbed  possessor  of 
five  leagues  of  savannas,  among  which  he  enjoyed 
independence  and  health. 

"  Nothing,"  says  Humboldt,  "  can  be  compared  to 
the  impression  of  the  majestic  tranquillity  left  on 
the  mind  by  the  view  of  the  firmament  in  this  soli- 
tary place.  Following  with  the  eye,  at  evening- 
tide,  those  meadows  which  stretch  along  the  hori- 
zon, and  the  gently-undulated  plain  covered  with 
plants,  we  thought  we  saw  in  the  distance,  as  in  the 
deserts  of  the  Orinoco,  the  surface  of  the  ocean 
supporting  the  starry  vault  of  heaven.  The  tree 
under  which  we  were  seated,  the  luminous  insects 


SIERRA    DE    LOS    TAGERES.  83 

that  vaulted  in  the  air,  and  the  constellations  which 
shone  in  the  south  seemed  to  tell  us  that  we  were 
far  from  our  native  land.  In  the  midst  of  this  exotic 
nature,  when  the  bell  of  a  cow,  or  the  lowing  of  a 
bull  was  heard  from  the  bottom  of  a  valley,  the  re- 
membrance of  our  country  was  suddenly  awakened 
by  the  sounds.  They  were  like  distant  voices,  that 
came  from  beyond  the  ocean,  and  by  the  magic  of 
which  we  were  transported  from  the  one  hemi- 
sphere to  the  other.  Strange  mobility  of  the  human 
imagination,  the  never-failing  source  of  our  enjoy- 
ments and  griefs  !" 

In  the  cool  of  the  morning  they  commenced  the 
ascent  of  Turimiquiri,  the  summit  of  the  Cocollar, 
which,  with  the  Brigantine,  forms  a  mass  of  moun- 
tains, formerly  named  by  the  natives  the  Sierra  de 
los  Tageres.  They  travelled  part  of  the  way  on 
horses,  which  are  left  to  roam  at  large  in  these 
wilds,  though  some  of  them  have  been  trained  to  the 
saddle.  Stopping  at  a  spring  which  issued  from  a 
bed  of  quartzy  sandstone,  they  found  its  tempera- 
ture to  be  69-8°.  To  the  height  of  4476  feet,  this 
mountain,  like  those  in  its  vicinity,  was  covered 
with  gramineous  plants.  The  pastures  became  less 
rich  in  proportion  to  the  elevation,  and  wherever  the 
scattered  rocks  afforded  a  shade  lichens  and  mosses 
occurred.  The  summit  is  4521  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea.  The  view  from  it  was  extensive  and 
highly  picturesque:  chains  of  mountains  running 
from  east  to  west  enclosed  longitudinal  valleys, 
which  were  intersected  at  right  angles  by  number- 
less ravines.  The  distant  peninsula  of  Araya  formed 
a  dark  streak  on  a  glittering  sea,  and  the  more  dis- 
tant rocks  of  Cape  Macanao  rose  amid  the  waters 
like  an  immense  rampart. 

On  the  14th  September,  they  descended  the  Co- 
collar  in  the  direction  of  San  Antonio,  where  was 
also  a  mission.  After  passing  over  savannas  strewed 
with  blocks  of  limestone,  succeeded  by  a  dense 


84       GUANAGUANA  AND  SAN  ANTONIO. 

forest  and  two  very  steep  ridges,  they  came  to  a 
beautiful  valley,  about  twenty  miles  in  length,  in 
which  are  situated  the  missions  of  San  Antonio  and 
Guanaguana.  Stopping  at  the  former  only  to  open 
the  barometer  and  take  a  few  altitudes  of  the  sun, 
they  forded  the  rivers  Colorado  and  Guarapiche,  and 
proceeding  along  a  level  and  narrow  road  covered 
with  thick  mud,  amid  torrents  of  rain,  reached  in  the 
evening  the  latter  of  these  stations,  where  they 
were  cordially  received  by  the  missionary.  This 
village  had  existed  only  thirty  years  on  the  spot 
which  it  then  occupied,  having  been  transferred 
from  a  place  more  to  the  south.  Humboldt  remarks, 
that  the  facility  with  which  the  Indians  remove  their 
dwellings  is  astonishing,  there  being  several  small 
towns  in  South  America  which  have  thrice  changed 
their  situation  in  less  than  half  a  century.  These 
compulsory  migrations  are  not  unfrequently  caused 
by  the  caprice  of  an  ecclesiastic  ;  and  as  the  houses 
are  constructed  of  clay,  reeds,  and  palm-leaves,  a 
hamlet  shifts  its  position  like  a  camp. 

The  mission  of  San  Antonio  had  a  small  church 
with  two  towers,  built  of  brick  and  ornamented  with 
Doric  columns,  the  wonder  of  the  county ;  but  that 
of  Guanaguana  possessed  as  yet  no  place  of  worship, 
although  a  spacious  house  had  been  built  for  the 
padre,  the  terraced  roof  of  which  was  ornamented 
with  numerous  chimneys  like  turrets,  and  which,  he 
informed  the  travellers,  had  been  erected  for  no 
other  purpose  than  to  remind  him  of  his  native  coun- 
try. The  Indians  cultivate  cotton.  The  machines 
by  which  they  separate  the  wool  from  the  seeds  are 
of  very  simple  construction,  consisting  of  wooden 
cylinders  of  very  small  diameter,  made  to  revolve 
by  a  treadle.  Maize  is  the  article  on  which  they 
principally  depend  for  food ;  and  when  it  happens 
to  be  destroyed  by  a  protracted  drought,  they  be- 
take themselves  to  the  surrounding  forest,  where 
they  find  subsistence  in  succulent  plants,  cabbage- 


VALLEY    OF    CARIPE.  85 

palms,    fern-roots,   and    the    produce    of   various 
trees. 

Proceeding  to  wards  the  valley  of  Caripe,  the  travel- 
lers passed  a  limestone  ridge  which  separates  it  from 
that  of  Guanaguana, — an  undertaking  which  they 
found  rather  difficult,  the  path  being  in  several  parts 
only  fourteen  or  fifteen  inches  broad,  and  the  slopes 
being  covered  with  very  slippery  turf.  When  they 
had  reached  the  summit,  an  interesting  spectacle  pre- 
sented itself  to  their  view,  consisting  of  the  vast 
savannas  of  Maturin  and  Rio  Tigre,  the  Peak  of 
Turimiquiri,  and  a  multitude  of  parallel  hills  resem- 
bling the  waves  of  a  troubled  ocean. 

Descending  the  height  by  a  winding  path,  they 
entered  a  woody  country,  where  the  ground  was 
covered  by  moss  and  a  species  of  Drosera.  As  they 
approached  the  convent  of  Caripe,  the  forests  grew 
more  dense,  and  the  power  of  vegetation  increased. 
The  calcareous  strata  became  thinner,  forming  grad- 
uated terraces,  while  the  stone  itself  assumed  a  white 
colour,  with  a  smooth  or  imperfectly  conchoidal 
fracture.  This  rock  Humboldt  considers  as  anal- 
ogous to  the  Jura  deposites.  He  found  the  level  of 
the  valley  of  Caripe  1279  feet  higher  than  that  of 
Guanaguana.  Although  the  former  is  only  sepa- 
rated from  the  latter  by  a  narrow  ridge,  it  affords  a 
complete  contrast  to  it,  being  deliciously  cool  and 
salubrious,  while  the  other  is  remarkable  for  its 
great  heat. 

H 


86  CONVENT   OF   CARIPE. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Excursion  continued,  and  Return  to  Cumana. 

Convent  of  Caripe— Cave  of  Guacharo,  inhabited  by  Nocturnal  Birds- 
Purgatory — Forest  Scenery — Howling  Monkeys— Vera  Cruz — Cariaco 
— Intermittent  Fevers — Cocoa-trees— Passage  across  the  Gulf  of  Cari- 
aco to  Cumana. 

ARRIVING  at  the  hospital  of  the  Arragonese  Capu- 
chins, which  was  backed  by  an  enormous  wall 'of 
rocks  of  resplendent  whiteness,  covered  with  a  luxu- 
riant vegetation,  our  travellers  were  hospitably  re- 
ceived by  the  monks.  The  superior  was  absent ; 
but  having  heard  of  their  intention  to  visit  the  place, 
he  had  provided  for  them  whatever  could  serve  to 
render  their  abode  agreeable.  The  inner  court,  sur- 
rounded by  a  portico,  they  found  highly  convenient 
for  setting  up  their  instruments  and  making  observa- 
tions. In  the  convent  they  found  a  numerous  so- 
ciety, consisting  of  old  and  infirm  missionaries,  who 
sought  for  health  in  the  salubrious  air  of  the  moun- 
tains of  Caripe,  and  younger  ones  newly  arrived 
from  Spain.  Although  the  inmates  of  this  estab- 
lishment knew  that  Humboldt  was  a  Protestant,  they 
manifested  no  mark  of  distrust,  nor  proposed  any 
indiscreet  question,  to  diminish  the  value  of  the  be- 
nevolence which  they  exercised  with  so  much  libe- 
rality. Even  the  light  of  science  had  in  some  de- 
gree extended  to  this  obscure  place  ;  for  in  the  library 
of  the  superior  they  found  among  other  books  the 
Traite  d'Electricite,  by  the  Abbe  Nollet ;  and  one  of 
the  monks  had  brought  with  him  a  Spanish  transla- 
tion of  Chaptal's  Treatise  on  Chymistry. 

The  height  of  this  monastery  above  the  sea  is 
nearly  the  same  as  that  of  Caraccas,  and  the 


CAVE    OF    GUACHARO.  87 

inhabited  parts  of  the  Blue  Mountains  of  Jamaica. 
The  thermometer  was  between  60'8°  and  63°  at  mid- 
night, between  66*2°  and  68°  in  the  morning,  and 
only  69 '8°  or  72*5°  about  one  o'clock.  The  mean 
temperature,  inferred  from  that  of  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember, appears  to  be  65'3°.  This  degree  of  heat 
is  sufficient  to  develop  the  productions  of  the  torrid 
zone,  although  much  inferior  to  that  of  the  plains 
of  Cumana.  Water  exposed  in  vessels  of  porous 
clay  cools  during  the  night  as  low  as  55*4°.  The 
mild  climate  and  rarefied  air  of  this  place  have  been 
found  highly  favourable  to  the  cultivation  of  coffee, 
which  was  introduced  into  the  province  by  the  pre- 
fect of  the  Capuchins,  an  active  and  enlightened 
man.  In  the  garden  of  the  community  were  many 
culinary  vegetables,  maize,  the  sugar-cane,  and  five 
thousand  coffee-trees. 

The  greatest  curiosity  in  this  beautiful  and  salu- 
brious district  is  a  cavern  inhabited  by  nocturnal  birds, 
the  fat  of  which  is  employed  in  the  missions  for 
dressing  food.  It  is  named  the  Cave  of  Guacharo, 
and  is  situated  in  a  valley  three  leagues  distant  from 
the  convent. 

On  the  18th  of  September  our  travellers,  accom- 
panied by  most  of  the  monks  and  some  of  the  Indians, 
set  out  for  this  aviary,  following  for  an  hour  and  a 
half  a  narrow  path,  leading  across  a  fine  plain  cov- 
ered with  beautiful  turf;  then,  turning  westward 
along  a  small  river  which  issues  from  the  cave,  they 
proceeded,  during  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  some- 
times walking  in  the  water,  sometimes  on  a  slippery 
and  miry  soil,  between  the  torrent  and  a  wall  of 
rocks,  until  they  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  lofty 
mountain  of  Guacharo.  Here  the  torrent  ran  in  a 
deep  ravine,  and  they  went  on  under  a  projecting 
cliff,  which  prevented  them  from  seeing  the  sky, 
until  at  the  last  turning  they  came  suddenly  upon 
the  immense  opening  of  the  recess,  which  is  eighty- 
five  feet  broad  and  seventy-seven  feet  high.  The 


88  GUACHARO. 

entrance  is  towards  the  south,  and  is  formed  in  the 
vertical  face  of  a  rock,  covered  with  trees  of  gigantic 
height,  intermixed  with  numerous  species  of  singular 
and  beautiful  plants,  some  of  which  hang  in  festoons 
over  the  vault.  This  luxuriant  vegetation  is  not 
confined  to  the  exterior  of  the  cave,  but  appears 
even  in  the  vestibule,  where  the  travellers  were  as- 
tonished to  see  heliconias  nineteen  feet  in  height, 
palms,  and  arborescent  arums.  They  had  advanced 
about  four  hundred  and  sixty  feet  before  it  became 
necessary  to  light  their  torches,  when  they  heard 
from  afar  the  hoarse  screams  of  the  birds. 

The  guacharo  is  the  size  of  a  domestic  fowl,  and 
has  somewhat  the  appearance  of  a  vulture,  with  a 
mouth  like  that  of  a  goatsucker.  It  forms  a  distinct 
genus  in  the  order  Passer es,  differing  from  that  just 
named  in  having  a  stronger  beak,  furnished  with  two 
denticulations,  though  in  its  manners  it  bears  an  af- 
finity to  it  as  well  as  to  the  alpine  crow.  Its  plu- 
mage is  dark  bluish-gray,  minutely  streaked  and 
spotted  with  deep  brown ;  the  head,  wings,  and  tail 
being  marked  with  white  spots  bordered  with  black. 
The  extent  of  the  wings  is  three  feet  and  a  half.  It 
lives  on  fruits,  but  quits  the  cave  only  in  the  even- 
ing. The  shrill  and  piercing  cries  of  these  birds, 
assembled  in  multitudes,  are  said  to  form  a  harsh 
and  disagreeable  noise,  somewhat  resembling  that 
of  a  rookery.  The  nests,  which  the  guides  showed 
by  means  of  torches  fastened  to  a  long  pole,  were 
placed  in  funnel-shaped  holes  in  the  roof.  The 
noise  increased  as  they  advanced,  the  animals  being 
frightened  by  the  numerous  lights. 

About  midsummer  every  year  the  Indians,  armed 
with  poles,  enter  the  cave,  and  destroy  the  greater 
part  of  the  nests.  Several  thousands  of  young  birds 
are  thus  killed,  and  the  old  ones  hover  around,  utter- 
ing frightful  cries.  Those  which  are  secured  in  this 
manner  are  opened  on  the  spot,  to  obtain  the  fat 
which  exists  abundantly  in  their  abdomen,  and  which 


INTERIOR    OF   THE    CAVE.  89 

is  subsequently  melted  in  clay  vessels  over  fires  of 
brushwood.  This  substance  is  semifluid,  transpa- 
rent, destitute  of  smell,  and  keeps  above  a  year  with- 
out becoming  rancid.  At  the  convent  of  Caripe  it 
was  used  in  the  kitchen  of  the  monks,  and  our  trav- 
ellers never  found  that  it  communicated  any  dis- 
agreeable smell  or  taste  to  the  food. 

The  guacharoes  would  have  been  long  ago  de- 
stroyed, had  not  the  superstitious  dread  of  the  In- 
dians prevented  them  from  penetrating  far  into  the 
cavern.  It  also  appears,  that  birds  of  the  same 
species  dwell  in  other  inaccessible  places  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  that  the  great  cave  is  repeopled 
by  colonies  from  them.  The  hard  and  dry  fruits 
which  are  found  in  the  crops  and  gizzards  of  the 
young  ones  are  considered  as  an  excellent  remedy 
against  intermittent  fevers,  and  regularly  sent  to  Ca- 
riaco  and  other  parts  of  the  lower  districts  where 
such  diseases  prevail. 

The  travellers  followed  the  banks  of  the  small 
river  which  issues  from  the  cavern  as  far  as  the 
mounds  of  calcareous  incrustations  permitted  them, 
and  afterward  descended  into  its  bed.  The  cave 
preserved  the  same  direction,  breadth,  and  height 
as  at  its  entrance,  to  the  distance  of  1554  feet.  The 
natives  having  a  belief  that  the  souls  of  their  an- 
cestors inhabit  its  deep  recesses,  the  Indians  who 
accompanied  our  travellers  could  hardly  be  persuaded 
to  venture  into  it.  Shooting  at  random  in  the  dark, 
they  obtained  two  specimens  of  the  guacharo.  Hav- 
ing proceeded  to  a  certain  distance,  they  came  to  a 
mass  of  stalactite,  beyond  which  the  cave  became 
narrower,  although  it  retained  its  original  direction. 
Here  the  rivulet  had  deposited  a  blackish  mould  re- 
sembling that  observed  at  Muggendorf  in  Franconia. 
The  seeds  which  the  birds  carry  to  their  young 
spring  up  wherever  they  are  dropped  into  it ;  and  M. 
Humboldt  and  his  friend  were  astonished  to  find 
blanched  stalks  that  had  attained  a  height  of  two  feet. 


90  DESCENT    OF   THE    BRIGANTINE. 

As  the  missionaries  were  unable  to  persuade  the 
Indians  to  advance  farther,  the  party  returned.  The 
river,  sparkling  amid  the  foliage  of  the  trees,  seemed 
like  a  distant  picture,  to  which  the  mouth  of  the  cave 
formed  a  frame.  Having  sat  down  at  the  entrance 
to  enjoy  a  little  needful  repose,  they  partook  of  a 
repast  which  the  missionaries  had  prepared,  and  in 
due  time  returned  to  the  convent. 

The  days  which  our  travellers  passed  at  this  reli- 
gious house  glided  hastily  and  pleasantly  past.  From 
morning  to  night  they  traversed  the  forests  and 
mountains  collecting  plants ;  and  when  the  rains 
prevented  them  from  making  distant  excursions, 
they  visited  the  huts  of  the  Indians ;  returning  to  the 
good  monks  only  when  the  sound  of  the  bell  called 
them  to  the  solace  of  the  refectory.  Sometimes 
also  they  followed  them  to  the  church,  to  witness 
the  religious  instruction  given  to  the  Indians ;  which 
was  found  a  difficult  task,  owing  to  the  imperfect 
knowledge  of  the  Spanish  language  possessed  by 
the  latter.  The  evenings  were  employed  in  taking 
notes,  drying  plants,  and  sketching  those  that  ap- 
peared new. 

The  natural  beauties  of  this  interesting  valley 
engaged  them  so  much,  that  they  were  long  in  per- 
ceiving the  embarrassment  felt  by  their  kind  enter- 
tainers, who  had  now  but  a  very  slender  store  of 
wine  and  bread.  At  length,  on  the  22d  September, 
they  departed,  followed  by  four  mules  carrying  their 
instruments  and  plants.  The  descent  of  the  rugged 
chain  of  the  Brigantine  and  Cocollar,  which  is  about 
4400  feet  in  height,  is  exceedingly  difficult.  The 
missionaries  have  given  the  name  of  Purgatory  to 
an  extremely  steep  and  slippery  declivity  at  the  base 
of  a  sandstone  rock,  in  passing  which  the  mules, 
drawing  their  hind-legs  under  their  bodies,  slide  down 
at  a  venture.  From  this  point  they  saw  towards  the 
left  the  great  peak  of  Guacharo,  which  presented  a 
very  picturesque  appearance ;  and  soon  after  entered 


VEGETATION   AND    ANIMALS.  91 

a  dense  forest,  through  which  they  descended  for 
seven  hours  in  a  kind  of  ravine,  the  path  being 
formed  of  steps  from  two  to  three  feet  high,  over 
which  the  mules  leaped  like  wild  goats.  The  Creoles 
have  sufficient  confidence  in  these  animals  to  remain 
in  their  saddles  during  this  dangerous  passage ;  but 
our  travellers  preferred  walking. 

The  forest  was  exceedingly  dense,  and  consisted 
of  trees  of  stupendous  size.  The  guides  pointed 
out  some  whose  height  exceeded  130  feet,  while  the 
diameter  of  many  of  the  curucays  and  hymendas 
was  more  than  three  yards.  Next  to  these,  the  plants 
which  most  attracted  their  notice  were  the  dragon's- 
blood  (Croton  sanguifluum),the  purple  juice  of  which 
flowed  along  the  whitish  bark,  various  species  of 
palms,  and  arborescent  ferns  of  large  size.  The  old 
trunks  of  some  of  the  la.tter  were  covered  with  a 
carbonaceous  powder,  having  a  metallic  lustre  like 
graphite. 

As  they  descended  the  mountain  the  tree-ferns 
diminished,  while  the  number  of  palms  increased. 
Large-winged  butterflies  (nymphales)  became  more 
common,  and  every  thing  showed  that  they  were 
approaching  the  coast.  The  weather  was  cloudy, 
the  heat  oppressive,  and  the  howling  of  the  monkeys 
gave  indication  of  a  coming  thunder-storm.  These 
creatures,  the  arguatoes,  resemble  a  young  bear,  and 
are  about  three  feet  long  from  the  top  of  the  head  to 
the  root  of  the  tail.  The  fur  is  tufty  and  reddish- 
brown,  the  face  blackish-blue,  with  a  bare  and 
wrinkled  skin,  and  the  tail  long  and  prehensile. 

While  engaged  in  observing  a  troop  of  them  cross 
the  road  upon  the  horizontal  branches  of  the  trees, 
the  travellers  met  a  company  of  naked  Indians  pro- 
ceeding towards  the  mountains  of  Caripe.  The 
men  were  armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  and  the 
women,  heavily  laden,  brought  up  the  rear.  They 
marched  in  silence,  with  their  eyes  fixed  on  the 
ground.  Our  philosophers,  oppressed  with  the  in- 


92  CATUARO. 

creasing  heat,  and  faint  with  fatigue,  endeavoured  to 
learn  from  them  the  distance  of  the  missionary  con- 
vent of  Vera  Cruz,  where  they  intended  to  pass 
the  night ;  but  little  information  could  be  obtained 
on  account  of  their  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  Span- 
ish language. 

Continuing  to  descend  amid  scattered  blocks,  they 
unexpectedly  found  themselves  at  the  -end  of  the 
forest,  when  they  entered  a  savanna,  the  verdure 
of  which  had  been  renewed  by  the  winter  rains. 
Here  they  had  a  splendid  view  of  the  Sierra  del 
Guacharo,  the  northern  declivity  of  which  presented 
an  almost  perpendicular  wall,  exceeding  3200  feet  in 
height,  and  scantily  covered  with  vegetation.  The 
ground  before  them  consisted  of  several  level  spaces, 
lying  above  each  other  like  vast  steps.  The  mission 
of  Vera  Cruz,  which  is  situated  in  the  middle  of  it, 
they  reached  in  the  evening,  and  next  day  continued 
their  journey  towards  the  Gulf  of  Cariaco. 

Proceeding  on  their  way,  they  entered  another 
forest,  and  reached  the  station  of  Catuaro,  situated 
in  a  very  wild  spot,  where  they  lodged  at  the  house 
of  the  priest.  Their  host  was  a  doctor  of  divinity, 
a  thin  little  man,  of  petulant  vivacity,  who  talked 
continually  of  a  lawsuit  in  which  he  was  engaged 
with  the  superior  of  his  convent,  and  wished  to  know 
what  Humboldt  thought  of  free-will  and  the  souls  of 
animals.  At  this  place  they  met  with  the  corregidor 
of  the  district,  an  amiable  person,  who  gave  them 
three  Indians  to  assist  in  cutting  a  way  through  the 
forest,  the  lianas  and  intertwining  branches  having 
obstructed  the  narrow  lanes.  The  little  missionary, 
however,  insisted  on  accompanying  them  to  Cariaco, 
and  contrived  to  render  the  road  extremely  tedious 
by  his  observations  on  the  necessity  of  the  slave- 
trade,  the  innate  wickedness  of  blacks,  and  the  ben- 
efit which  they  derived  from  being  reduced  to 
bondage  by  Christians. 

The  road  which  they  followed  through  the  forest 


CARIACO — INTERMITTENT  FEVER.      93 

of  Catuaro  resembled  that  of  the  preceding  day. 
The  clay,  which  filled  the  path  and  rendered  it  ex- 
cessively slippery,  was  produced  by  layers  of  sand- 
stone and  slate-clay  which  cross  the  calcareous 
strata.  At  length,  after  a  fatiguing  march,  they 
reached  the  town  of  Cariaco,  on  the  coast,  where 
they  found  a  great  part  of  the  inhabitants  confined 
to  their  beds  with  intermittent  fever.  The  low  situa- 
tion of  the  place,  as  well  as  of  the  surrounding  dis- 
trict, the  great  heat  and  moisture,  and  the  stagnant 
marshes  generated  during  the  rainy  season,  are 
supposed  to  be  the  causes  of  this  disease,  which 
often  assumes  a  malignant  character,  and  is  accom- 
panied with  dysentery.  Men  of  colour,  and  espe- 
cially Creole  negroes,  resist  the  influence  of  the  cli- 
mate much  better  than  any  other  race.  It  is  gen- 
erally observed,  however,  that  the  mortality  is  less 
than  might  be  supposed;  for  although  intermittent 
fevers,  when  they  attack  the  same  individual  several 
years  in  succession,  alter  and  weaken  the  constitu- 
tion, they  do  not  usually  cause  death.  It  is  remark- 
able that  the  natives  believe  the  air  to  have  become 
more  vitiated  in  proportion  as  a  larger  extent  of  land 
has  been  cultivated;  but  the  miasmata  from  the 
marshes,  and  the  exhalations  from  the  mangroves, 
avicenniae,  and  other  astringent  plants  growing  on 
the  borders  of  the  sea,  are  probably  the  real  causes 
of  the  unhealthiness  of  the  coasts. 

In  1800  the  town  of  Cariaco  contained  more  than 
6000  inhabitants,  who  were  actively  employed  in  the 
cultivation  of  cotton,  the  produce  of  which  ex- 
ceeded 10,000  quintals  (9057  Ibs.  avoirdupois).  The 
capsules,  after  the  separation  of  the  wool,  were 
carefully  burnt,  as  they  were  thought  to  occasion 
noxious  exhalations  when  thrown  into  the  river. 
Cacao  and  sugar  were  also  raised  to  a  considerable 
extent. 

As  our  travellers  were  not  sufficiently  inured  to 
the  climate,  they  considered  it  prudent  to  leave  Cari- 


94  GULF    OF    CARIACO. 

aco  as  expeditiously  as  possible  on  account  of  the 
fever.  Embarking  early  in  the  morning,  they  pro- 
ceeded westward  along  the  river  of  Carenicuar, 
which  flows  through  a  deep  marshy  soil  covered 
with  gardens  and  plantations  of  cotton.  The  Indian 
women  were  washing  their  linen  with  the  fruit  of 
the  parapara  (Sapindus  saponaria).  Contrary  winds, 
accompanied  with  heavy  rain  and  thunder,  rendered 
the  voyage  disagreeable ;  more  especially  as  the 
canoe  was  narrow  and  overloaded  with  raw  sugar, 
plantains,  cocoanuts,  and  passengers.  Swarms  of 
flamingoes,  egrets,  and  cormorants  were  flying  to- 
wards the  shore,  while  the  alcatras,  a  large  species 
of  pelican,  less  affected  by  the  weather,  continued 
fishing  in  the  bay.  The  general  depth  of  the  sea  is 
from  288  to  320  feet ;  but  at  the  eastern  extremity 
of  the  gulf  it  is  only  from  nineteen  to  twenty-five 
feet  for  an  extent  of  seventeen  miles,  and  there  is 
a  sandbank  which  at  low  water  resembles  a  small 
island.  They  crossed  the  part  where  the  hot  springs 
rush  from  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  ;  but  it  being  high 
water  the  change  of  temperature  was  not  very  per- 
ceptible. The  contrary  winds  continuing,  they  were 
forced  to  land  at  Pericautral,  a  small  farm  .on  the 
south  side  of  the  gulf.  The  coast,  although  cov- 
ered by  a  beautiful  vegetation,  was  almost  destitute 
of  human  labour,  and  scarcely  possessed  seven  hun- 
dred inhabitants.  The  cocoa-tree  is  the  principal 
object  of  cultivation.  This  palm  thrives  best  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  sea,  and  like  the  sugar-cane,  the 
plantain,  the  mammee-apple,  and  the  alligator-pear, 
may  be  watered  either  with  fresh  or  salt  water.  In 
other  parts  of  America  it  is  generally  nourished 
around  farm-houses ;  but  along  the  Gulf  of  Cariaco 
it  forms  real  plantations,  and  at  Cumana  they  talk 
of  a  hacienda  de  coco,  as  they  do  of  a  hacienda  de 
canna,  or  de  cacao.  In  moist  and  fertile  ground  it 
begins  to  bear  abundantly  the  fourth  year ;  but  in 
dry  soils  it  does  not  produce  fruit  until  the  tenth. 


RETURN    TO  OtTMANA.  95 

Its  duration  does  not  generally  exceed  ninety  or  a 
hundred  years  ;  at  which  period  its  mean  height  is 
about  eighty  feet.  Throughout  this  coast  a  c  ;eoa- 
tree  supplies  annually  about  a  hundred  nuts,  which 
yield  eight  flascoes  of  oil.  The  fiasco  is  sold  for 
about  sixteen  pence.  A  great  quantity  is  made  at 
Cumana,  and  Humboldt  frequently  witnessed  the 
arrival  there  of  canoes  containing  3000  nuts.  The 
oil,  which  is  clear  and  destitute  of  smell,  is  well 
adapted  for  burning. 

After  sunset  they  left  the  farm  of  Pericautral,  and 
at  three  in  the  morning  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
Manzanares,  after  passing  a  very  indifferent  night  in 
a  narrow  and  deeply-laden  canoe.  Having  been  for 
several  weeks  accustomed  to  mountain  scenery, 
gloomy  forests,  and  rainy  weather,  they  were  struck 
by  the  barrenness  of  the  soil,  the  clearness  of  the 
sky,  and  the  mass  of  reflected  light  by  which  the 
neighbourhood  of  Cumana  is  characterized.  At  sun- 
rise they  saw  the  zamuro  vultures  (Vultur  aura), 
perched  on  the  cocoa-trees  in  large  flocks.  These 
birds  go  to  roost  long  before  night,  and  do  not  quit 
their  place  of  repose  until  after  the  heat  of  the  solar 
rays  is  felt.  The  same  idleness,  as  it  were,  is  in- 
dulged by  the  trees  with  pinnate  leaves,  such  as  the 
mimosas  and  tamarinds,  which  close  these  organs 
half  an  hour  before  the  sun  goes  down,  and  unfold 
them  in  the  morning  only  after  he  has  been  some 
time  visible.  In  our  climates  the  leguminous  plants 
open  their  leaves  during  the  morning  twilight;,  Hum- 
boldt seems  to  think  that  the  humidity  deposited 
upon  the  parenchyma  by  the  refrigeration  of  the 
foliage,  which  is  the  effect  of  the  nocturnal  radia- 
tion, prevents  the  action  of  the  first  rays  of  the  sun 
upon  them. 


96  NATIVE    RACES. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Indians  of  New -Andalusia. 

Physical  Constitution  and  Manners  of  the  Chaymas— Their  Lan- 
guages— American  Races. 

IT  is  the  custom  of  Humboldt,  in  his  "  Journey  to 
the  Equinoctial  Region,"  to  stand  still  after  an  ex- 
cursion, reflect,  and  present  to  his  readers  the  result 
of  his  inquiries  on  any  subject  that  has  fixed  his  at- 
tention. For  example,  on  concluding  the  narrative 
of  his  visit  to  the  Chayma  missions,  he  gives  a  gen- 
eral account  of  the  aborigines  of  New- Andalusia,  of 
which  an  abridgment  is  here  offered. 

The  north-eastern  part  of  equinoctial  America, 
Terra  Firma,  and  the  shores  of  the  Orinoco,  resem- 
ble, in  the  multiplicity  of  the  tribes  by  which  they 
are  inhabited,  the  defiles  of  Caucasus,  the  mountains 
of  Hindookho,  and  the  northern  extremity  of  Asia, 
beyond  the  Tungooses  and  the  Tartars  of  the  mouth 
of  the  Lena.  The  barbarism  which  prevails  in  these 
various  regions  is  perhaps  less  owing  to  an  original 
absence  of  civilization  than  to  the  effects  of  a  long 
debasement ;  and  if  every  thing  connected  with  the 
first  population  of  a  continent  were  known,  we  should 
probably  find  that  savages  are  merely  tribes  banished 
from  society  and  driven  into  the  forests.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  conquest  of  America,  the  na- 
tives were  collected  into  large  bodies  only  on  the 
ridge  of  the  Cordilleras  and  the  coast  opposite  to 
Asia,  while  the  vast  savannas,  and  the  great  plains 
covered  by  forests  and  intersected  by  rivers,  pre- 
sented wandering  tribes,  separated  by  differences  of 
language  and  manners. 

In  New-Andalusia,  Cumana,  and  New-Barcelona, 


WILD   AND    CIVILIZED    INDIANS.  97 

the  aborigines  still  form  fully  one-half  of  the  scanty 
population.  Their  number  may  be  about  60,000,  of 
which  24,000  inhabit  the  first  of  these  provinces. 
This  amount  appears  large  when  we  refer  to  the 
hunting  tribes  of  North  America,  but  seems  the  re- 
verse when  we  look  to  those  districts  of  New-Spain 
where  agriculture  has  been  followed  for  more  than 
eight  centuries.  Thus,  the  intendancy  of  Oaxaca, 
which  forms  part  of  the  old  Mexican  empire,  and 
which  is  one-third  smaller  than  the  two  provinces 
of  Cumana  and  Barcelona,  contains  more  than  400,000 
of  the  original  race.  The  Indians  of  Cumana  do  not 
all  live  assembled  in  the  missions,  some  being  found 
dispersed  in  the  neighbourhood  of  towns  along  the 
coasts.  The  stations  of  the  Arragonese  Capuchins 
contain  15,000,  almost  all  of  the  Chayma  tribe.  The 
villages,  however,  are  less  crowded  than  in  the 
province  of  Barcelona,  their  indigenous  population 
being  only  between  five  and  six  hundred ;  whereas, 
more  to  the  west,  in  the  establishments  of  the  Fran- 
ciscans of  Piritoo,  there  are  towns  of  2000  or  3000 
inhabitants.  Besides  the  60,000  natives  of  the  prov- 
inces of  Cumana  and  Barcelona,  there  are  some 
thousands  of  Guaraounoes  who  have  preserved  their 
independence  in  the  islands  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Orinoco.  Excepting  a  few  families  there  are  no  wild 
Indians  in  New-Andalusia. 

The  term  wild  or  savage  Humboldt  says  he  uses 
with  regret,  because  it  implies  a  difference  of  cultiva- 
tion which  does  not  always  exist  between  the  re- 
duced or  civilized  Indian,  living  in  the  missions,  and 
the  free  or  independent  Indian.  In  the  forests  of 
South  America  there  are  tribes  which  dwell  in  vil- 
lages, rear  plantains,  cassava,  and  cotton,  and  are 
scarcely  more  barbarous  than  those  in  the  religious 
establishments,  who  have  been  taught  to  make  the 
sign  of  the  Cross.  It  is  an  error  to  consider  all  the 
free  natives  as  wandering  hunters ;  for  agriculture 
existed  on  the  continent  long  before  the  arrival  of 


98  PROGRESS    OF    THE    MISSIONS. 

the  Europeans,  and  still  exists  between  the  Orinoco 
and  the  Amazons,  in  districts  to  which  they  have 
never  penetrated.  The  sy-'em  of  the  missions  has 
produced  an  attachment  to  landed  property,  a  fixed 
residence,  and  a  taste  for  quiet  life  ;  but  the  baptized 
Indian  is  often  as  little  a  Christian  as  his  heathen 
brother  is  an  idolater, — both  discovering  a  marked 
indifference  for  religious  opinions,  and  a  tendency  to 
worship  nature. 

There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  in  the  Spanish  . 
colonies  the  number  of  Indians  has^diminished  since 
the  conquest.  There  are  still  more  than  six  mil- 
lions of  the  copper-coloured  race  in  both  Americas  ; 
and  although  tribes  and  languages  have  been  de- 
stroyed or  blended  in  those  colonies,  the  natives 
have  in  fact  continued  to  increase.  In  the  temperate 
zone  the  contact  of  Europeans  with  the  indigenous 
population  becomes  fatal  to  the  latter  ;  but  in  South 
America  the  result  is  different,  and  there  they  do 
not  dread  the  approach  of  the  whites.  In  the  former 
case  a  vast  extent  of  country  is  required  by  the  In- 
dians, because  they  live  by  hunting ;  but  in  the  latter 
a  small  piece  of  ground  suffices  to  afford  subsistence 
for  a  family. 

In  these  provinces  the  Europeans  advance  slowly; 
and  the  religious  orders  have  founded  establishments 
between  the  regions  inhabited  by  them  and  those 
possessed  by  the  independent  Indians.  The  mis- 
sions have  no  doubt  encroached  on  the  liberty  of  the 
natives,  but  they  have  generally  been  favourable  to 
the  increase  of  the  population.  As  the  preachers 
advance  into  the  interior  the  planters  invade  their 
territory,  the  whites  and  the  castes  of  mixed  breed 
settle  among  the  Indians,  the  missions  become  Span- 
ish villages,  and  finally  the  old  inhabitants  lose  their 
original  manners  and  language.  In  this  way  civili- 
zation advances  from  the  coasts  towards  the  centre 
of  the  continent. 

New-Andalusia  and  Barcelona  contain  more  than 


CHARACTER    OF   THE    INDIANS.  99 

fourteen  tribes  of  Indians.  Those  of  the  former  are 
the  Chaymas,  Guayquerias,  Pariagotoes,  Quaquas, 
Aruacas,  Caribs,  and  Guaraounoes  ;  and  those  of  the 
latter,  the  Cutnanagatoes,  Palenkas,  Caribs,  Piritoos, 
Tomoozas,  Topocuares,  Chacopatas,  and  Guarivas. 
The  precise  number  of  the  Guaraounoes,  who  live 
in  huts  elevated  on  trees  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ori- 
noco, is  not  knoAvn.  There  are  two  thousand  Guay- 
querias in  the  suburbs  of  Cumana  and  the  peninsula 
of  Araya.  Of  the  other  tribes  the  Chaymas  of  the 
mountains  of  Caripe,  the  Caribs  of  New-Barcelona, 
and  the  Cumanagatoes  of  the  missions  of  Piritoo, 
are  the  most  numerous.  The  language  of  the 
Guaraounoes,  and  that  of  the  Caribs,  Cumanagatoes, 
and  Chaymas,  are  the  most  general,  and  seem  to 
belong  to  the  same  stock. 

Although  the  Indians  attached  to  the  missions  are 
all  agriculturists,  cultivate  the  same  plants,  build 
their  huts  in  the  same  manner,  and  lead  the  same 
kind  of  life,  yet  the  shades  by  which  the  several 
tribes  are  distinguished  remain  unchanged.  There 
are  few  of  these  villages  in  which  the  families  do 
not  belong  to  different  tribes,  and  speak  different 
languages.  The  missionaries  have,  indeed,  pro- 
hibited the  use  of  various  practices  and  ceremonies, 
and  have  destroyed  many  superstitions;  but  they 
have  not  been  able  to  alter  the  essential  character 
common  to  all  the  American  races,  from  Hudson's 
Bay  to  the  Straits  of  Magellan.  The  instructed  In- 
dian, more  secure  of  subsistence  than  the  untamed 
native,  and  less  exposed  to  the  fury  of  hostile  neigh- 
bours or  of  the  elements,  leads  a  more  monotonous 
life,  possesses  the  mildness  of  character  which 
arises  from  the  love  of  repose,  and  assumes  a  sedate 
and  mysterious  air ;  but  the  sphere  of  his  ideas  has 
received  little  enlargement,  and  the  expression  of 
melancholy  which  his  countenance  exhibits  is  merely 
the  result  of  indolence. 

The  Chaymas,  of  whom  more  than  fifteen  thousand 


100  THE   CHAYMAS. 

inhabit  the  Spanish  villages,  and  who  border  on  the 
Cumanagatoes  towards  the  west,  the  Guaraounoes 
towards  the  east,  and  the  Caribs  towards  the  south, 
occupy  part  of  the  elevated  mountains  of  the  Co- 
collar  and  Guacharo,  as  also  the  banks  of  the  Gua- 
rapichc,  Rio  Colorado,  Areo,  and  the  Cano  of  Caripe. 
The  first  attempt  to  reduce  them  to  subjection  was 
made  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  by 
Father  Francisco  of  Pamplona,  a  person  of  great 
zeal  and  intrepidity.  The  mission  subsequently 
formed  among  these  people  suffered  greatly  in  1681, 
1697,  and  1720,  from  the  invasions  of  the  Caribs ; 
while  during  six  years  subsequently  to  1730,  the 
population  was  diminished  by  the  ravages  of  the 
small-pox. 

The  Chaymas  are  generally  of  low  stature,  their 
ordinary  height  being  about  five  feet  two  inches ; 
but  their  figures  are  broad  and  muscular.  The  colour 
of  the  skin  is  a  dull  brown,  inclining  to  red.  The 
expression  of  the  countenance  is  sedate  and  some- 
what gloomy ;  the  forehead  is  small  and  retiring ; 
the  eyes  sunk,  very  long  and  black,  but  not  so  small 
or  oblique  as  in  the  Mongolian  race ;  the  eyebrows 
slender,  nearly  straight,  and  black  or  dark-brown, 
and  the  eyelids  furnished  with  very  long  lashes  ; 
the  cheek-bones  are  usually  high,  the  hair  straight, 
the  beard  almost  entirely  wanting,  as  in  the  same 
people,  from  whom,  however,  they  differ  essentially 
in  having  the  nose  pretty  long.  The  mouth  is 
wide,  the  lips  broad  but  not  prominent,  the  chin  ex- 
tremely short  and  round,  and  the  jaws  remarkable 
for  their  strength.  The  teeth  are  white  and  sound, 
the  toothache  being  a  disease  w^ith  which  they  are 
seldom  afflicted.  The  hands  are  small  and  slender, 
while  the  feet  are  large,  and  the  toes  possessed  of 
an  extraordinary  mobility.  They  have  so  strong  a 
family  look,  that  on  entering  a  hut  it  is  often  difficult, 
among  grown-up  persons,  to  distinguish  the  father 
from  the  son.  This  is  attributable  to  the  circum- 


THEIR   MANNERS.  101 

stance  of  their  only  marrying*  in  their  own  tribe,  as 
well  as  to  their  inferior  degree  of  intellectual  im- 
provement ;  the  differences  between  uncivilized  and 
cultivated  man  being  similar  to  those  between  wild 
and  domesticated  animals  of  the  same  species. 

As  they  live  in  a  very  warm  country,  they  are  ex- 
cessively averse  to  clothing.  In  spite  of  the  remon- 
strances of  the  monks,  men  and  women  remain  naked 
while  within  their  houses ;  and,  when  they  go  out, 
wear  only  a  kind  of  cotton  gown  scarcely  reaching 
to  the  knees.  The  dress  of  the  men  has  sleeves, 
while  that  of  the  women  and  boys  has  none ;  the 
arms,  shoulders,  and  upper  part  of  the  breast  being 
uncovered.  Till  the  age  of  nine  the  girls  are  allowed 
to  go  to  church  naked.  The  missionaries  complain 
that  the  feeling  of  modesty  is  very  little  known  to 
the  younger  of  the  sex.  The  women  are  not  hand- 
some ;  but  the  maidens  have  a  kind  of  pleasant  mel- 
ancholy in  their  looks.  No  instances  of  natural  de- 
formity occurred  to  the  travellers.  Humboldt  re- 
marks, that  deviations  from  nature  are  exceedingly 
rare  among  certain  races  of  men,  especially  such  as 
have  the  skin  highly  coloured ;  an  effect  which  he 
does  not  ascribe  solely  to  a  luxurious  life  or  the  cor- 
ruption of  morals,  but  rather  imagines  that  the  im- 
munity enjoyed  by  the  American  Indians  arises  from 
hereditary  organization.  The  custom  of  marrying 
at  a  very  early  age,  which  depends  upon  the  same 
circumstance,  is  stated  to  be  no  way  detrimental  to 
population.  It  occurs  in  the  most  northern  parts 
of  the  continent  as  well  as  in  the  warmest,  and 
therefore  is  not  dependent  upon  climate. 

They  have  naturally  very  little  hair  on  the  chin, 
and  the  little  that  appears  is  carefully  plucked  out. 
This  thinness  of  the  beard  is  common  to  the  Ameri- 
can race,  although  there  are  tribes,  such  as  the 
Chipeways  and  the  Patagonians,  in  which  it  assumes 
respectable  dimensions. 

The  Chaymas  lead  a  very  regular  and  uniform 
12 


102        INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES. 

life.  They  go  to  bed  at  seven,  and  rise  at  half  after 
four.  The  inside  of  their  huts  is  kept  very  clean, 
and  their  hammocks,  utensils,  and  weapons  are  ar- 
ranged in  the  greatest  order.'  They  bathe  every 
day,  and,  being  generally  naked,  are  thus  exempted 
from  the  filth  principally  caused  by  clothing.  Be- 
sides their  cabin  in  the  village,  they  usually  have  a 
smaller  one,  covered  with  palm  or  plantain-leaves, 
in  some  solitary  place  in  the  woods,  to  which  they 
retire  as  often  as  they  can;  and  so  strong  is  the 
desire  among  them  of  enjoying  the  pleasures  of 
savage  life,  that  the  children  sometimes  wander  en- 
tire days  in  the  forests.  In  fact,  the  towns  are  often 
almost  wholly  deserted.  As  in  all  semi-barbarous 
nations,  the  women  are  subjected  to  privation  and 
suffering,  the  hardest  labour  falling  to  their  share. 

The  Indians  learn  Spanfsh  with  extreme  difficulty ; 
and  even  when  they  perfectly  understand  the  mean- 
ing of  the  words,  are  unable  to  express  the  most 
simple  ideas  in  that  language  without  embarrass- 
ment. They  seem  to  have  as  little  capacity  for 
comprehending  any  thing  belonging  to  numbers ;  the 
more  intelligent  counting  in  Spanish  with  the  ap- 
pearance of  great  effort  only  as  far  as  thirty,  or  per- 
haps fifty,  while  in  their  own  tongue  they  cannot 
proceed  beyond  five  or  six.  The  construction  of  the 
American  dialects  is  so  different  from  that  of  the 
several  classes  of  speech  derived  from  the  Latin, 
that  the  Jesuits  employed  some  of  the  more  perfect 
among  the  former  instead  of  their  own ;  and  had  this 
system  been  generally  followed  the  greatest  benefit 
would  have  resulted  from  it.  The  Chayma  appeared 
to  Humboldt  less  agreeable  to  the  ear  than  that  of 
the  other  South  American  tribes. 

The  Pariagotoes,  or  Farias,  formerly  occupied  the 
coasts  of  Berbice  and  Essequibo,  the  peninsula  of 
Paria,  and  the  plains  of  Piritoo  and  Parima.  Little 
information,  however,  is  furnished  respecting  them. 

The  Guaraounoes  are  dispersed  in  the  delta  of  the 


OTHER    NATIVE    TRIBES.  103 

Orinoco,  and  owe  their  independence  to  the  nature 
of  their  country.  In  order  to  raise  their  houses 
above  the  inundations  of  the  river,  they  support 
them  on  the  trunks  of  the  mangrove  and  mauritia 
palm.  They  make  bread  of  the  flour  obtained  from 
the  pith  of  the  latter  tree.  Their  excellent  qualities 
as  seamen,  their  perfect  knowledge  of  the  mouths 
and  inosculations  of  that  magnificent  stream,  and 
their  great  number,  give  them  a  certain  degree  of 
political  importance.  They  run  with  great  address 
on  marshy  ground,  where  the  whites,  the  negroes, 
or  other  Indian  tribes,  will  not  venture  ;  and  this 
circumstance  has  given  rise  to  the  idea  of  their 
being  specifically  lighter  than  the  rest  of  the  natives. 

The  Guayquerias  are  the  most  intrepid  fishermen 
of  these  countries,  and  are  the  only  persons  well 
acquainted  with  the  great  bank  that  surrounds  the 
islands  of  Coche,  Margarita,  Sola,  and  Testigos. 
They  inhabit  Margarita,  the  peninsula  of  Araya,  and 
a  suburb  of  Cumana. 

The  Quaquas,  formerly  a  very  warlike  tribe,  are 
now  mingled  with  the  Chaymas  attached  to  the  mis- 
sions of  Cumana,  although  their  original  abode  was 
on  the  banks  of  the  Assiveru. 

The  Cumanagatoes,  to  the  number  of  more  than 
twenty  thousand,  subject  to  the  Christian  stations 
of  Piritoo,  live  westward  of  Cumana,  where  they 
cultivate  the  ground.  At  the  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth century  they  inhabited  the  mountains  of  the 
Brigantine  and  Parabolota. 

The  Caribbees  of  these  countries  are  part  of  the 
remnant  of  the  great  Carib  nation. 

The  natives  of  America  may  be  divided  into  two 
great  classes.  To  the  first  belong  the  Esquimaux 
of  Greenland,  Labrador,  and  Hudson's  Bay,  and  the 
inhabitants  of  Behring's  Straits,  Alaska,  and  Prince 
William's  Sound.  The  eastern  and  western  branches 
of  this  great  family,  the  Esquimaux  proper  and  the 
Tschougages,  are  united  by  the  most  intimate  simi- 


104  RESIDENCE    AT    C17MANA. 

larity  of  language,  although  separated  to  the  im- 
mense distance  of  eight  hundred  leagues.  The  in- 
habitants of  the  north-east  of  Asia  are  evidently  of 
the  same  stock.  Like  the  Malays,  this  hyperborean 
nation  resides  only  on  the  seacoast.  They  are  of 
smaller  stature  than  the  other  Americans,  lively  and 
loquacious.  Their  hair  is  straight  and  black  ;  but- 
their  skin  is  originally  white,  in  which  respect  they 
essentially  differ  from  the  other  class. 

The  second  race  is  dispersed  over  the  various  re- 
gions of  the  continent,  from  the  northern  parts  to 
the  southern  extremity.  They  are  of  larger  size, 
more  warlike,  and  more  taciturn,  and  differ  in  the 
colour  of  their  skin.  At  the  earliest  age  it  has  more 
or  less  of  a  coppery  tinge  in  most  of  the  tribes, 
while  in  others  the  children  are  fair,  or  nearly  so  ; 
and  certain  tribes  on  the  Orinoco  preserve  the  same 
complexion  during  their  whole  life.  Humboldt  is 
of  opinion  that  these  differences  in  colour  are  but 
slightly  influenced  by  climate  or  other  external  cir- 
cumstances, and  endeavours  to  impress  the  idea 
that  they  depend  on  the  original  constitution. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Residence  at  Cwnana. 

Residence  at  Cumana— Attack  of  a  Zambo— Eclipse  of  the  Sun — 
Extraordinary  Atmospherical  Phenomena— Shocks  of  an  Earthquake 
— Luminous  Meteors. 

OUR  travellers  remained  a  month  longer  at  Cu- 
mana. As  they  had  determined  to  make  a  voyage 
on  the  Orinoco  and  Rio  Negro,  preparations  of  va- 
rious kinds  were  necessary  ;  and  the  astronomical 
determination  of  places  being  the  most  important 
object  of  this  undertaking,  it  was  of  essential  advan- 


REMARKAB'LE   ATMOSPHERIC    PHENOMENA.       105 

tage  to  observe  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  which  was  to 
happen  in  the  end  of  October. 

On  the  27th,  the  day  before  the  obscuration,  they 
went  out  in  the  evening,  as  usual,  to  take  the  air. 
Crossing  the  beach  which  separates  the  suburb  of 
the  Guayquerias  from  the  landing  place,  they  heard 
the  sound  of  footsteps  behind,  and  on  turning  saw  a 
tall  Zambo,  who,  coming  up,  flourished  a  great  palm- 
tree  bludgeon  over  Humboldfs  head.  He  avoided 
the  stroke  by  leaping  aside  ;  but  Bonpland  was  less 
fortunate ;  for,  receiving  a  blow  above  the  temple, 
he  was  felled  to  the  ground.  The  former  assisted 
his  companion  to  rise,  and  both  now  pursued  the 
ruffian,  who  had  run  off  with  one  of  their  hats,  and 
on  being  seized,  drew  a  long  knife  from  his  trou- 
sers. In  the  mean  time  some  Biscayan  merchants, 
who  were  walking  on  the  shore,  came  to  their  as- 
sistance ;  when  the  Zambo,  seeing  himself  sur- 
rounded, took  to  his  heels,  and  sought  refuge  in  a 
cowhouse,  from  which  he  was  led  to  prison.  The 
inhabitants  showed  the  warmest  concern  for  the 
strangers  ;  and  although  Bonpland  had  a  fever  dur- 
ing the  night,  he  speedily  recovered.  The  object 
of  the  Zambo,  who  soon  afterward,  succeeded  in 
escaping  from  the  castle  of  San  Antonio,  was  never 
satisfactorily  made  out. 

Notwithstanding  this  untoward  accident,  Hum- 
boldt  was  enabled  to  observe  the  eclipse.  The  days 
which  preceded  and  followed  it  displayed  very  re- 
markable atmospheric  phenomena.  It  was  what  is 
called  winter  in  those  countries.  From  the  10th  of 
October  to  the  3d  of  November  a  reddish  vapour 
rose  in  the  evening,  and  in  a  few  minutes  covered 
the  sky.  The  hygrometer  gave  no  indication  of  hu- 
midity. The  diurnal  heat  was  from  82'4°  to  89'6°. 
Sometimes  in  the  midst  of  the  night  the  mist  dis- 
appeared for  a  moment,  when  clouds  of  a  brilliant 
whiteness  formed  in  the  zenith,  and  extended  to- 
wards the  horizon.  On  the  18th  of  October  they 


106  EARTHQUAKE. 

were  so  transparent  that  they  did  not  conceal  stars 
even  of  the  fourth  magnitude,  and  the  spots  of  the 
moon  were  very  clearly  distinguished.  They  were 
arranged  in  masses  at  equal  distances,  and  seemed 
to  be  at  a  prodigious  height.  From  the  28th  of  Oc- 
tober to  the  3d  of  November  the  fog  was  thicker 
than  it  had  yet  been.  The  heat  at  night  was  stifling, 
although  the  thermometer  indicated  only  78*8°. 
The  evening  breeze  was  no  longer  felt ;  the  sky  ap- 
peared as  if  on  fire,  and  the  ground  was  everywhere 
cracked  and  dusty.  On  the  4th  of  November  about 
two  in  the  afternoon,  large  clouds  of  extraordinary 
blackness  enveloped  the  mountains  of  the  Brigantine 
and  Tataraqual,  extending  gradually  to  the  zenith. 
About  four,  thunder  was  heard  overhead,  but  at  an 
immense  height,  and  with  a  dull  and  often  inter- 
rupted sound.  At  the  moment  of  the  strongest 
electric  explosion,  two  shocks  of  an  earthquake, 
separated  by  an  interval  of  fifteen  seconds,  were 
felt.  The  people  in  the  streets  filled  the  air  with 
their  cries.  Bonpland.  who  was  examining  plants, 
was  nearly  thrown  on  the  floor,  and  Humboldt,  who 
was  lying  in  his  hammock,  felt  the  concussion 
strongly.  Its  direction  was  from  north  to  south. 
A  few  minutes  before  the  first  there  was  a  violent 
gust  of  wind  followed  by  large  drops  OQ  rain.  The 
sky  remained  cloudy,  and  the  blast  was  succeeded  by 
a  dead  calm,  which  continued  all  night.  The  setting 
of  the  sun  presented  a  scene  of  great  magnificence. 
The  dark  atmospheric  shroud  was  rent  asunder  close 
to  the  horizon,  and  the  sun  appeared  at  12°  of  alti- 
tude on  an  indigo  ground,  its  disk  enormously  en- 
larged and  distorted.  The  clouds  were  gilded  on 
the  edges,  and  bundles  of  rays  reflecting  the  most 
brilliant  prismatic  colours  extended  over  the  heavens. 
About  nine  in  the  evening  there  was  a  third  shock, 
which,  although  much  slighter,  was  evidently  at- 
tended with  a  subterranean  noise.  The  barometer 
was  a  little  lower  than  usual,  but  the  progress  of  the 


EXTRAORDINARY   DISPLAY   OF   METEORS.        107 

horary  variations  was  in  no  way  interrupted.  In 
the  night,  between  the  3d  and  4th  of  November,  the 
red  vapour  was  so  thick  that  the  rlace  of  the  moon 
could  be  distinguished  only  by  a  beautiful  halo,  20° 
in  diameter. 

Scarcely  twenty-two  months  had  elapsed  since 
the  almost  total  destruction  of  Cumana  by  an  earth- 
quake ;  and  as  the  people  look  on  the  vapours,  and 
the  failure  of  the  breeze  during  the  night,  as  prog- 
nostics of  disaster,  the  travellers  had  frequent  visits 
from  persons  desirous  of  knowing  whether  their  in- 
struments indicated  new  shocks  on  the  morrow.  On 
the  5th,  precisely  at  the  same  hour,  the  same  phe- 
nomena recurred,  but  without  any  agitation ;  and 
the  gust,  accompanied  by  thunder,  returned  period- 
ically for  five  or  six  days. 

This  earthquake,  being  the  first  that  Humboldt 
ever  felt,  made  a  strong  impression  upon  him ;  but 
scenes  of  this  kind  afterward  became  so  familiar  as 
to  excite  little  apprehension.  It  appeared  to  have  a 
sensible  influence  on  the  magnetical  phenomena. 
Soon  after  his  arrival  on  the  coasts  of  Cumana,  he 
found  the  dip  of  the  needle  43*53°  of  the  centesimal 
division.  On  the  1st  November  it  was  43 '65°.  On 
the  7th,  three  days  after  the  concussion,  he  was 
astonished  tj  find  it  no  more  than  42*75°,  or  90  cen- 
tesimal degrees  less.  A.  year  later,  on  his  return 
from  the  Orinoco,  he  still  found  it  42*80°,  though  the 
intensity  of  the  magnetic  forces  remained  the  same 
after  as  before  the  event  under  consideration,  being 
expressed  by  229  oscillations  in  ten  minutes  of  time. 
On  the  7th  November  he  observed  the  magnetic  va- 
riation to  be  4°  13'  50"  E. 

The  reddish  vapour  which  appeared  about  sunset 
ceased  on  the  7th  November.  The  atmosphere  then 
assumed  its  former  purity ;  and  the  night  of  the  llth 
was  cool  and  extremely  beautiful.  Towards  morn- 
ing a  very  extraordinary  display  of  luminous  meteors 
was  observed  in  the  east  by  M.  Bonpland,  who  had 


108  LUMINOUS    METEORS. 

risen  to  enjoy  the  freshness  of  the  air  in  the  gallery 
Thousands  of  fireballs  and  falling-stars  succeeded 
each  other  during  four  hours,  having  a  direction 
from  north  to  south,  and  filling  a  space  of  the  sky 
extending  from  the  true  east  30  degrees  on  either 
side.  They  rose  above  the  horizon  at  E.N.E.  and 
at  E.,  described  arcs  of  various  sizes,  and  fell  to- 
wards S.,  some  attaining  a  height  of  40°,  and  all  ex- 
ceeding 25°  or  30°.  No  trace  of  clouds  was  to  be 
seen,  and  a  very  slight  easterly  wind  blew  in  the 
lower  regions  of  the  atmosphere.  All  the  meteors 
left  luminous  traces  from  five  to  ten  degrees  in 
length,  the  phosphorescence  of  which  lasted  seven  or 
eight  seconds.  The  fireballs  seemed  to  explode, 
but  the  largest  disappeared  without  scintillation ; 
and  many  of  the  falling-stars  had  a  very  distinct 
nucleus,  as  large  as  the  disk  of  Jupiter,  from  which 
sparks  were  emitted.  The  light  occasioned  by  them 
was  white, — an  effect  which  must  be  attributed  to 
the  absence  of  vapours  ;  stars  of  the  first  magnitude 
having,  within  the  tropics,  a  much  paler  hue  at  their 
rising  than  in  Europe. 

As  the  inhabitants  of  Cumana  leave  their  houses 
before  four,  to  attend  the  first  morning  mass,  most 
of  them  were  witnesses  of  this  phenomenon,  which 
gradually  ceased  soon  after,  although  some  were 
still  perceived  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  sunrise. 

The  day  of  the  12th  November  was  exceedingly 
hot,  and  in  the  evening  the  reddish  vapour  reap- 
peared in  the  horizon,  and  rose  to  the  height  of  14°. 
This  was  the  last  time  it  was  seen  that  year. 

The  researches  of  M.  Chladni  having  directed  the 
attention  of  the  scientific  world  to  fireballs  and  fall- 
ing-stars at  the  period  of  Humboldt's  departure  from 
home,  he  did  not  fait  to  inquire,  during  his  journey 
from  Caraccas  to  the  Rio  Negro,  whether  the  me- 
teors of  the  12th  November  had  been  seen.  He 
found  that  they  had  been  observed  by  various  indi- 
viduals in  places  very  remote  from  each  other ;  and 


LUMINOUS    METEORS.  109 

on  returning  to  Europe  was  astonished  to  find  that 
they  had  been  seen  there  also.  The  following  is  a 
brief  account  of  the  facts  relating  to  these  phenom- 
ena : — 1st,  The  luminous  meteors  were  seen  in  the 
E.  and  E.N.E.  at  40°  of  elevation,  from  2  to  6  A.M., 
at  Cumana,  in  lat.  10°  21'  52",  long.  66°  30' ;  at  Porto 
Cabello,  in  lat.  10°  6'  52",  long.  67°  5' ;  and  on  the 
frontiers  of  Brazil,  near  the  equator,  in  long.  70° 
west.  2dly,  The  Count  de  Marbois  observed  them 
in  French  Guiana,  lat.  4°  56',  long.  54°  35'.  3dly, 
Mr.  Ellicot,  astronomer  to  the  United  States,  being 
in  the  Gulf  of  Florida  on  the  12th  November,  saw 
an  immense  number  of  meteors,  some  of  which  ap- 
peared to  fall  perpendicularly ;  and  the  same  phe- 
nomenon was  perceived  on  the  American  continent 
as  far  as  lat.  30°  42'.  4thly,  In  Labrador,  in  lat.  56° 
55',  and  lat.  58°  4' ;  in  Greenland,  in  latitudes  61°  5' 
and  64°  14',  the  natives  were  frightened  by  the  vast 
quantity  of  fireballs  that  fell  during  twilight,  some 
of  them  of  great  size.  5thly,  In  Germany,  Mr. 
Zeissing,  vicar  of  Itterstadt  near  Weimar,  in  lat.  50° 
59',  long.  9°  1'  E.,  observed,  between  6  and  7  in  the 
morning  of  the  12th  November,  some  falling-stars 
having  a  very  white  light.  Soon  after  reddish 
streaks  appeared  in  the  S.  and  S.W. ;  and  at  dawn 
the  south-western  part  of  the  sky  was  from  time  to 
time  illuminated  by  white  lightning  running  in  ser- 
pentine lines  along  the  horizon. 

Calculating  from  these  facts,  it  is  manifest  that 
the  height  of  the  meteors  was  at  least  1419  miles ; 
and  as  near  Weimar  they  were  seen  in  the  S.  and 
S.W.,  while  at  Cumana  they  were  observed  in  the 
E.  and  N.E.,  we  must  conclude  that  they  fell  into 
the  sea  between  Africa  and  South  America,  to  the 
west  of  the  Cape  Verd  Islands. 
1  Without  entering  into  the  learned  discussion  which 
Humboldt  submits  to  his  readers,  respecting  the  na- 
ture of  these  luminous  bodies,  we  shall  merely  ob- 
serve,'that  he  found  falling-stars  more  frequent  in 
K 


110  DEPARTURE    FROM    CUMANA. 

the  equinoctial  regions  than  in  the  temperate  zone, 
and  also  that  they  occurred  oftener  over  continents 
and  near  certain  coasts  than  on. the  ocean.  He 
states,  that  on  the  platform  of  the  Andes,  there  was 
observed,  upwards'  of  forty  years  ago,  a  phenom- 
enon similar  to  that  related  above  as  having  oc- 
curred at  Cumana.  From  the  city  of  Quito  an  im- 
mense number  of  meteors  was  seen  rising  over  the 
volcano  of  Cayambo,  insomuch  that  the  whole 
mountain  was  thought  to  be  on  fire.  They  con- 
tinued more  than  an  hour,  and  a  religious  procession 
was  about  to  be  commenced,  when  the  true  nature 
of  the  luminous  appearance  was  discovered. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Voyage  from  Cumana  to  Guayra. 

Passage  from  Cumana  to  La  Guayra — Phosphorescence  of  tne  Sea — 
Group  of  the  Caraccas  and  Chimanas— Port  of  New-Barcelona—La 
Guayra— Yellow  Fever  —  Coast  and  Cape  Blanco  —  Road  from  La 
Guayra  to  Caraccas. 

HAVING  completed  the  partial  investigations  which 
their  short  residence  admitted,  and  having  in  some 
measure  become  acclimatized,  the  adventurous  phi- 
losophers prepared  to  leave  Cumana.  Passing  by 
sea  to  La  Guayra,  they  intended  to  take  up  their 
abode  in  the  town  of  Caraccas  until  the  rainy  season 
should  be  over ;  from  thence  to  traverse  the  Llanos, 
or  great  plains,  to  the  missions  of  the  Orinoco  ;  to 
go  up  that  river  as  far  as  the  Rio  Negro  ;  and  to  re- 
turn to  Cumana  by  Angostura,  the  capital  of  Spanish 
Guiana. 

On  the  16th  November,  at  eight  in  the  evening, 
they  took  their  passage  in  one  of  the  boats  which 
trade  between  these  coasts  and  the  West  India 


PHOSPHORESCENCE    OF    THE    SEA.  113 

islands.  They  are  thirty-two  feet  long,  three  feet 
high  at  the  gunwale,  without  decks,  and  generally 
carry  from  200  to  250  quintals  (181  to  226  cwts. 
avoirdupois).  Although  the  sea  is  very  rough  from 
Cape  Codera  to  La  Guayra,  and  these  boats  have  an 
enormous  triangular  sail,  there  had  not  been  an  in- 
stance for  thirty  years  of  the  loss  of  one  of  them 
on  the  passage  from  Cumana  to  Caraccas,  so  great 
is  the  skill  of  the  Guayqueria  pilots.  They  de- 
scended the  Manzanares  with  rapidity,  delighted 
with  the  sight  of  its  marginal  cocoa-trees,  and  the 
glitter  of  the  thorny  bushes  covered  with  noctilu- 
cous insects,  and  left  with  regret  a  country  in  which 
every  thing  had  appeared  new  and  marvellous. 
Passing  at  high  water  the  bar  of  the  river,  they  en- 
tered the  Gulf  Of  Cariaco,  the  surface  of  which  was 
gently  rippled  by  the  evening  breeze.  In  a  short 
time  the  coasts  were  recognised  only  by  the  scat- 
tered lights  of  the  Indian  fishermen. 

As  they  advanced  towards  the  shoal  that  sur- 
rounds Cape  Arenas,  stretching  as  far  as  the  petro- 
leum springs  of  Maniquarez,  they  enjoyed  one  of 
those  beautiful  sights  which  the  phosphorescence  of 
the  sea  so  often  displays  in  tropical  climates.  When 
the  porpoises,  which  followed  the  boat  in  bands  of 
fifteen  or  sixteen,  struck  the  surface  of  the  water 
with  their  tails,  they  produced  a  brilliant  light  re- 
sembling flames.  Each  troop  left  behind  it  a  lumi- 
nous track;  and  as  few  sparks  were  caused' by  the 
motion  of  an  oar  or  of  the  boat,  Hurnboldt  conjectured 
that  the  vivid  glow  produced  by  these  cetaceous  ani- 
mals was  owing,  not  to  the  stroke  of  their  tails  alone, 
but  also  to  the  gelatinous  matter  which  envelops 
their  bodies,  and  which  is  detached  by  the  waves. 

At  midnight  they  found  themselves  among  some 
rocky  islets,  rising  in  the  form  of  bastions,  and  con- 
stituting the  group  of  the  Caraccas  and  Chimanas. 
Many  of  these  eminences  are  visible  from  Cumana, 
and  present  the  most  singular  appearances  under 
K2 


114  ISLAND    OF   BORACHA. 

the  effect  of  mirage.  Their  height,  which  is  prob- 
ably not  more  than  960  feet,  seemed  much  greater 
when  enlightened  by  the  moon,  which  now  shone  in 
a  clear  sky.  The  travellers  were  becalmed  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  these  islands,  and  at  sunrise  drifted 
towards  Boracha,  the  largest  of  them.  The  temper-^ 
ature  had  sensibly  increased,  in  consequence  of  the* 
rocks  giving  out  by  radiation  a  portion  of  the  heat 
which  they  had  absorbed  during  the  day.  As  the 
sun  rose,  the  cliffs  projected  their  lengthened  shad- 
ows on  the  ocean,  and  the  flamingoes  began  to  fish 
in  the  creeks.  The  insular  spots  were  all  uninhab- 
ited; but  on  one  of  them,  which  had  formerly  been 
the  residence  of  a  family  of  whites,  there  were  wira 
goats  of  a  large  size  and  brown  colour.  The  inhab- 
itants had  cultivated  maize  and  cassava;  but  the 
father,  after  the  death  of  his  children,  having  pur- 
chased two  black  slaves,  was  murdered  by  them 
One  of  the  assassins  subsequently  informed  against 
his  accomplice,  and  at  the  time  of  Humboldt's  visit 
was  hangman  at  Cumana. 

Proceeding  onwards,  they  anchored  for  some 
hours  in  the  road  of  New-Barcelona,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Neveri,  which  is  full  of  crocodiles. 
These  animals,  especially  in  calm  weather,  occa 
sionally  make  excursions  into  the  open  sea, — a  fact 
which  is  interesting  to  geologists,  on  account  of  the 
mixture  of  marine  and  fresh  water  organic  remains 
that  are  occasionally  observed  in  some  of  the  more 
recent  deposites.  The  port  of  Barcelona  had  at 
that  time  a  very  active  commerce,  arising  from  the 
demand  in  the  West  Indies  for  salted  provision, 
oxen,  mules,  and  horses ;  the  merchants  of  the  Ha- 
vana being  the  principal  purchasers.  Its  situa- 
tion is  extremely  favourable  for  this  exportation, 
the  animals  arriving  in  three  days  from  the  Llanos, 
while  they  take  more  than  double  that  time  to  reach 
Cumana,  on  account  of  the  chain  of  mountains  which 
they  have  to  cross.  Eight  thousand  mules  were 


MORRO    DE    BARCELONA.  115 

embarked  at  Barcelona,  six  thousand  at  Porto  Ca- 
bello,  and  three  thousand  at  Carupano,  in  1799  and 
1800,  for  the  several  islands. 

Landing  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  they  as- 
cended to  a  small  fort,  the  Morro  de  Barcelona,  built 
on  a  calcareous  rock,  at  an  elevation  of  about  400 
feet  above  the  sea,  but  commanded  by  a  much  higher 
hill  on  the  south.  Here  they  observed  a  very  curi- 
ous geological  phenomenon,  which  recurred  in  the 
Cordilleras  of  Mexico.  The  limestone,  which  had 
a  dull,  even,  or  flat  conchoidal  fracture,  and  was 
divided  into  very  thin  strata,  was  traversed  by  layers 
of  black  slaty  jasper,  with  a  similar  fracture,  and 
breaking  into  fragments  having  a  parallelopipedal 
form.  It  did  not  exhibit  the  little  veins  of  quartz  so 
common  in  Lydian  stone,  and  was  decomposed  at 
the  surface  into  a  yellowish-gray  crust. 

Setting  sail  on  the  19th  at  noon,  they  found  the 
temperature  of  the  sea  at  its  surface  to  be  78*6° ; 
but  when  passing  through  the  narrow  channel  which 
separates  the  Piritoos,  in  three  fathoms  it  was  only 
76 '1°.  These  islands  do  not  rise  more  than  eight 
or  nine  inches  above  the  mean  height  of  the  tide, 
and  are  covered  with  long  grass.  To  the  westward 
of  the  Morro  de  Barcelona  and  the  mouth  of  the 
river  Unare,  the  ocean  became  more  and  more  agi- 
tated as  they  approached  Cape  Codera,  the  influence 
of  which  extends  to  a  great  distance.  Beyond  this 
promontory  it  always  runs  very  high,  although  a 
gale  of  wind  is  never  felt  along  this  coast.  It  blew 
fresh  during  the  night,  and  on  the  20th,  at  sunrise, 
they  were  so  far  advanced  as  to  be  in  expectation 
of  doubling  the  cape  in  a  few  hours ;  but  some  of 
the  passengers  having  suffered  from  sea-sickness, 
and  the  pilot  being  apprehensive  of  danger  from  the 
privateers  stationed  near  La  Guayra,  they  made  for 
the  shore,  and  anchored  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  Bay 
of  Iliguerota,  westward  of  the  Rio  Capaya. 

On  landing,  they  found  two  or  three  huts  inhab- 


116  MANGROVES. 

ited  by  mestizo  fishermen,  the  livid  tint  of  whom, 
together  with  the  miserable  appearance  of  their 
children,  gave  indication  of  the  unhealthy  nature  of 
the  coast.  The  sea  is  so  shallow  that  one  cannot  go 
ashore  in  the  smallest  boat  without  wading.  The 
woods  come  nearly  to  the  beach,  which  is  covered 
with  mangroves,  avicennias,  mancjjriineel-trees,  and 
Suriana  maritima,  called  by  the  natives  romero  de  la 
mar.  Here,  as  elsewThere,  the  insalubrity  of  the  air 
is  attributed  to  the  exhalations  from  the  first  of  these 
plants.  A  faint  and  sickly  smell  was  perceived,  re- 
sembling that  of  the  galleries  of  deserted  mines. 
The  temperature  rose  to  93  '2°,  and  the  wrater  along 
the  whole  coast  acquired  a  yellowish-brown  tint 
wherever  it  was  in  contact  with  these  trees. 

Struck  by  this  phenomenon,  Humboldt  gathered 
a  considerable  quantity  of  branches  and  roots,  with 
the  view  of  making  experiments  on  the  mangrove 
upon  his  arrival  at  Caraccas.  The  infusion  in  warm 
water  was  of  a  brown  colour,  and  had  an  astringent 
taste.  It  contained  extractive  matter  and  tannin. 
When  kept  in  contact  with  atmospheric  air  under  a 
glass  jar  for  twelve  days,  the  purity  of  the  latter 
was  not  perceptibly  affected.  The  wood  and  roots 
placed  under  water  were  exposed  to  the  rays  of  the 
sun.  Bubbles  of  air  were  disengaged,  which  at  the 
end  of  ten  days  amounted  to  a  volume  of  40  cubic 
inches.  These  consisted  of  azote  and  carbonic  acid, 
with  a  trace  of  oxygen.  Lastly,  the  same  substances 
thoroughly  wetted  were  enclosed  with  a  given  vol- 
ume of  atmospheric  air  in  a  phial.  The  whole  of 
the  oxygen  disappeared.  These  experiments  led 
him  to  think  that  it  is  the  moistened  bark  and  fibre 
that  act  upon  the  atmosphere,  and  not  the  brownish 
water  which  formed  a  distinct  belt  along  the  coast. 
Many  travellers  attribute  the  smell  perceived  among 
mangroves  to  the  disengagement  of  sulphuretted 
hydrogen,  but  no  appearance  of  this  kind  was  ob- 
served in  the  course  of  these  investigations. 


CAPE    CODERA.  117 

"  Besides,"  says  Humboldt,  "  a  thick  wood  cover- 
ing a  muddy  ground  would  diffuse  noxious  exhala- 
tions in  the  atmosphere,  were  it  composed  of  trees 
which  in  themselves  have  no  deleterious  property. 
Wherever  mangroves  grow  on  the  margin  of  the 
sea,  the  beach  is  peopled  with  multitudes  of  mol- 
lusca  and  insects.  These  animals  prefer  the  shade 
and  a  faint  light ;  and  find  shelter  from  the  waves 
among  the  closely  interlaced  roots  which  rise  like 
lattice-work  above  the  surface  of  the  water.  Shells 
attach  themselves  to  the  roots,  crustaceous  animals 
nestle  in  the  hollow  trunks,  the  seaweeds  which 
the  wind  and  tide  drive  upon  the  shore  remain 
hanging  upon  the  recurved  branches.  In  this  man- 
ner the  maritime  forests,  by  accumulating  masses 
of  mud  among  their  roots,  extend  the  domain  of  the 
continents;  but,  in  proportion  as  they  gain  upon 
the  sea,  they  scarcely  experience  any  increase  in 
breadth,  their  very  progress  becoming  the  cause  of 
their  destruction.  The  mangroves  and  the  other 
plants  with  which  they  always  associate  die  as  the 
ground  dries,  and  when  the  salt-water  ceases  to 
bathe  them.  Centuries  after,  their  decayed  trunks, 
covered  with  shells,  and  half-buried  in  the  sand, 
mark  both  the  route  which  they  have  followed  in 
their  migrations,  and  the  limit  of  the  land  which 
they  have  wrested  from  the  ocean." 

Cape  Codera,  seven  miles  distant  from  the  Bay  of 
Iliguerota,  is  more  imposing  on  account  of  its  mass 
than  for  its  elevation,  which  appeared  to  be  only 
1280  feet.  It  is  precipitous  on  the  north,  west,  and 
east.  Judging  from  the  fragments  of  rock  found 
along  the  coast,  and  from  the  hills  near  the  town, 
it  is  composed  of  foliated  gneiss,  containing  nodules 
of  reddish  felspar,  and  little  quartz.  The  strata 
next  the  bay  have  the  same  dip  and  direction  as  the 
great  mountain  of  the  Silla,  which  stretches  from 
Caraccas  to  Maniqnarez  in  the  isthmus  of  Araya, 
and  seem  to  prove  that  the  primitive  chain  forming 


118  ARRIVAL   AT    LA    GUAYRA. 

that  neck  of  land,  after  being  disrnptnred  or  swal- 
lowed up  by  the  sea  along  an  extent  of  121  miles, 
reappears  at  Cape  Codera.  and  runs  westward  in  an 
unbroken  line.  Towards  the  north  the  cape  forms 
an  immense  segment  of  a  sphere,  and  at  its  foot 
stretches  a  tract  of  low  land,  known  to  navigators 
by  the  name  of  the  Points  of  Tutumo  and  of  San 
Francisco. 

The  passengers  in  the  boat  dreaded  the  rolling  in 
a  rough  sea  so  much,  that  they  resolved  to  proceed 
to  Caraccas  by  land,  and  M.  Bonpland,  following 
their  example,  procured  a  rich  collection  of  plants. 
Humboldt,  however,  continued  the  voyage,  as  it 
seemed  hazardous  to  lose  sight  of  the  instruments. 

Setting  sail  at  the  beginning  of  the  night,  they 
doubled  Cape  Codera  with  difficulty,  the  wind  being 
unfavourable,  and  the  surges  short  and  high.  On 
the  21st  of  November,  at  sunrise,  they  were  oppo- 
site Curuao,  to  the  west  of  the  cape.  The  Indian 
pilot  was  frightened  at  seeing  an  English  frigate  only 
a  mile  distant ;  but  they  escaped  without  attracting 
notice.  The  mountains  were  everywhere  precipi- 
tous, and  from  3200  to  4300  feet  high,  while  along 
the  shore  was  a  tract  of  low  humid  land,  glowing 
with  verdure,  and  producing  a  great  part  of  the  fruits 
found  so  abundantly  in  the  neighbouring  markets. 
The  peaks  of  Niguatar  and  the  Silla  of  Caraccas 
form  the  loftiest  summits  of  this  chain.  In  the 
fields  and  valleys  the  sugar-cane  and  maize  are  cul- 
tivated. To  the  west  of  Caravalleda  the  declivities 
along-shore  are  again  very  steep.  After  passing  this 
place  they  discovered  the  village  of  Macuto,  the 
black  rocks  of  La  Guayra  covered  with  batteries, 
and  in  the  distance  the  long  promontory  of  Cabo 
Blanco,  with  conical  summits  of  dazzling  white- 
ness. 

Humboldt  landed  at  Guayra,  and  in  the  evening 
arrived  at  Caraccas,  four  days  sooner  than  his  fel- 
low-travellers, who  had  suffered  greatly  from  the 


SHARKS LA    GUAYRA.  119 

rains  and  inundations.  The  former  he  describes  as 
rather  a  road  than  a  port,  the  sea  being  always  agi- 
tated, and  ships  suffering  from  the  action  of  the  wind, 
the  tideways,  the.  bad  anchorage,  and  the  worms. 
The  lading  is  taken  in  with  difficulty.  The  free  mu- 
lattoes  and  negroes,  who  carry  the  cocoa  on  board 
the  ships,  are  remarkable  for  their  strength.  They 
go  through  the  water  up  to  their  middles,  although 
this  place  abounds  in  sharks,  from  which,  however, 
they  have  in  reality  nothing  to  dread.  It  is  singular, 
that  while  these  animals  are  dangerous  and  blood- 
thirsty at  the  island  opposite  the  coast  of  Caraccas, 
at  the  Roques,  at  Buenos  Ayres,  and  at  Curassao, 
they  do  not  disturb  persons  swimming  in  the  ports 
of  Guayra  and  Santa  Martha.  As  an  analogous  fact, 
Humboldt  mentions  that  the  crocodiles  of  one  pool 
in  the  Llanos  are  cowardly,  while  those  of  another 
attack  with  the  greatest  fierceness. 

The  situation  of  La  Guayra  resembles  that  of 
Santa  Cruz  in  Teneriffe ;  the  houses,  which  are  built 
on  a  flat  piece  of  ground  about  640  feet  broad,  being 
backed  by  a  wall  of  rock,  beyond  which  is  a  chain 
of  mountains.  The  town  consists  of  two  parallel 
streets,  and  contains  6000  or  8000  inhabitants.  The 
heat  is  greater  than  even  at  Cumana,  Porto  Cabello, 
or  Coro,  the  Seabreeze  being  less  felt,  and  the  tem- 
perature being  increased  by  the  radiant  caloric  emitted 
by  the  rocks  after  sunset. 

The  examination  of  the  thermometrical  observa- 
tions made  at  La  Guayra  during  nine  months  by 
Don  Joseph  Herrera  enabled  Humboldt  to  compare 
the  climate  of  that  port  with  those  of  Cumana, 
Havana,  and  Vera  Cruz.  The  result  of  this  com- 
parison was,  that  the  first  mentioned  is  one  of  the 
hottest  places  on  the  globe  ;  that  the  quantity  of  heat 
which  it  receives  in  the  course  of  a  year  is  a  little 
greater  than  that  experienced  at  Cumana ;  but  that 
in  November,  December,  and  January,  the  atmo- 
sphere cools  to  a  lower  point.  The  mean  temperature 


120  YELLOW    FEVER. 

of  the  year  in  these  several  districts  is  as  follows : — 
At  La  Guayra,  nearly  82*6° ;  at  Cumana,  81.2°;  at 
Vera  Cruz,  77'7° ;  at  Havana,  78'1°;  while  at  Rio 
Janeiro  it  is  74'5°  ;  at  Santa  Cruz  in  Teneriffe,  71'4°  ; 
at  Cairo,  72.3°  ;  and  at  Rome,  60'4°. 

At  the  time  of  Humboldt's  visit  to  La  Guayra, 
the  yellow  fever,  or  calentura  amarilla,  had  been 
known  only  two  years  there,  and  the  mortality  had 
not  been  very  great,  as  the  confluence  of  strangers 
was  less  than  at  Havana  and  Vera  Cruz.  Some 
individuals,  even  Creoles  and  mulattoes,  were  occa- 
sionally taken  off  by  remittent  attacks,  complicated 
with  bilious  symptoms  and  hemorrhages,  and  their 
death  often  alarmed  unseasoned  Europeans ;  but  the 
disease  was  not  propagated.  On  the  coast  of  Terra 
Firma  this  malignant  typhus  was  known  only  at 
Porto  Cabello,  Carthagena,  and  Santa  Martha.  But 
since  1797  things  have  changed.  The  extension  of 
commerce  having  caused  an  influx  of  Europeans  and 
seamen  from  the  United  States,  the  distemper  in 
question  soon  appeared.  It  is  maintained  by  some, 
that  it  was  introduced  by  a  brig  from  Philadelphia, 
while  others  think  it  took  its  birth  in  the  country 
itself,  and  attribute  its  origin  to  a  change  in  the 
constitution  of  the  atmosphere  caused  by  the  over- 
flowings of  the  Rio  de  la  Guayra,  which  inundated 
the  town.  This  fever  has  since  continued  its  rav- 
ages, and  has  proved  fatal,  not  only  to  troops  newly 
arrived  from  Spain,  but  also  to  those  raised  far  from 
the  coast,  in  the  Llanos  between  Calabozo  and  Uri- 
tuco,  a  region  nearly  as  hot  as  La  Guayra  itself.  It 
scarcely  ever  passes  beyond  the  ridge  of  mountains 
that  separates  this  province  from  the  valley  of  Ca- 
raccas,  which  has  long  been  exempted  from  it.  The 
following  are  the  principal  pathological  facts  having 
reference  to  this  frightful  pestilence : — 

When  a  great  number  of  persons,  born  in  a  cold 
climate,  arrive  at  a  port  in  the  torrid  zone,  the  insa- 
lubrity of  which  has  not  been  particularly  dreaded 


YFLLOW   FEVER.  121 

by  navigators,  the  American  typhus  (black  vomit- 
ing, or  yellow  fever)  makes  its  appearance.  These 
persons,  we  may  add,  are  not  affected  by  it  during 
the  passage  ;  it  manifests  itself  only  on  the  spot. 
Has  the  constitution  of  the  atmosphere  been  changed  ? 
asks  Humboldt ;  or,  has  a  new  form  of  disease  de- 
veloped itself  in  individuals  whose  excitability  is 
raised  to  a  high  pitch  1 

The  malady  forthwith  attacks  other  Europeans 
born  in  warmer  countries.  Immediate  contact  does 
not  increase  the  danger,  nor  does  seclusion  diminish 
it.  When  the  sick  are  removed  to  the  interior,  and 
especially  to  cooler  and  more  elevated  places,  they 
do  not  communicate  the  typhus  to  the  inhabitants. 
Whenever  a  considerable  diminution  of  temperature 
occurs,  the  distemper  usually  ceases ;  but  it  again 
begins  at  the  commencement  of  the  hot  season, 
although  no  ship  may  have  entered  the  harbour  for 
several  months. 

The  yellow  fever  disappears  periodically  at  Ha- 
vana and  at  Vera  Cruz,  when  the  north  winds 
carry  the  cold  air  of  Canada  towards  the  Mexican 
Gulf ;  but  as  Porto  Cabello,  La  Guayra,  New-Bar- 
celona, and  Cumana  possess  an  extreme  equality  of 
temperature,  it  is  probable  that  it  will  become  per- 
manent there.  Happily,  the  mortality  has  diminished 
since  the  treatment  has  been  varied  according  to  the 
modifications  which  the  disease  assumes.  In  well- 
managed  hospitals,  the  number  of  deaths  is  often 
reduced  to  eighteen  or  fifteen  in  a  hundred ;  but  when 
the  sick  are  crowded  together  the  loss  increases  to 
one -half,  or  even  more. 

To  the  west  of  La  Guayra  there  are  several  in- 
dentations of  the  land  which  furnish  excellent  an- 
chorage. The  coast  is  granitic,  and  a  great  portion 
of  it  extremely  unhealthy.  At  Cape  Blanco  the 
gneiss  passes  into  mica-slate,  containing  beds  of 
chlorite-slate,  in  which  garnets  and  magnetic  sand 
occur.  On  the  road  to  Catia-the  chlorite-slate  is 
L 


122  ROAD    TO    CARACCAS. 

seen  passing  into  hornblende-slate.  At  the  foot  of 
the  promontory  the  sea  throws  on  the  beach  rolled 
fragments  of  a  granular  mixture  of  hornblende  and 
felspar,  in  which  traces  of  quartz  and  pyrites  are 
recognised.  On  the  western  declivity  of  that  hill 
the  gneiss  is  covered  by  a  recent  sandstone  or  con- 
glomerate, in  which  are  observed  angular  fragments 
of  gneiss,  quartz,  and  chlorite,  magnetic  sand,  mad- 
repores, and  bivalve  shells.  The  latitude  of  the 
cape  is  10°  36' 45";  that  of  La  Guayrais  10°  36'  19", 
its  longitude  67°  5'  49". 

The  road  from  La  Guayra  to  Caraccas  resembles 
the  passages  over  the  Alps  ;  but  as  it  is  kept  in  tol- 
erable repair,  it  requires  only  three  hours  to  go  with 
mules  from  the  port  to  the  capital,  and  two  hours  to 
return.  The  ascent  commences  with  a  ridge  of 
rocks,  and  is  extremely  laborious.  In  the  steepest 
parts  the  path  winds  in  a  zigzag  manner.  At  the 
Salto,  or  Leap,  there  is  a  crevice  which  is  passed  by 
a  drawbridge,  and  on  the  summit  of  the  mountain 
are  fortifications.  Half-way  is  La  Venta  (the  Inn) ; 
beyond  which  there  is  a  rise  of  960  feet  to  Guayavo, 
which  is  not  far  from  the  highest  part  of  the  route. 
At  the  fort  of  La  Cuchilla  Humboldt  was  nearly 
made  prisoner  by  some  Spanish  soldiers,  whom  he 
however  contrived  to  pacify.  Round  the  little  inn 
several  travellers  were  assembled,  who  were  dis- 
puting on  the  efforts  that  had  been  made  towards 
obtaining  independence  ;  on  the  hatred  of  the  mulat- 
toes  against  the  free  negroes  and  whites ;  the  wealth 
of  the  monks ;  and  on  the  difficulty  of  holding 
slaves  in  obedience.  From  Guayavo  the  road  passes 
over  a  smooth  table-land  covered  with  alpine  plants ; 
and  here  is  seen  for  the  first  time  the  capital,  stand- 
ing nearly  2000  feet  lower,  in  a  beautiful  valley  en- 
closed by  lofty  mountains. 

The  ridges  between  La  Guayra  and  Caraccas  con- 
sist of  gneiss.  On  the  south  side  the  eminence, 
which  bears  the  name  of  Avila,  is  traversed  by  veins 


VENEZUELA.  123 

of  quartz,  containing"  rutile  in  prisms  of  two  or  three 
lines  in  diameter.  The  gneiss  of  the  intervening 
valley  contains  red  and  green  garnets,  which  disap- 
pear when  the  rock  passes  into  mica-slate.  Near 
the  cross  of  La  Guayra,  half  a  league  distant  from 
Caraccas,  there  were  vestiges  of  blue  copper-ore 
disseminated  in  veins  of  quartz,  and  small  layers  of 
graphite.  Between  the  former  point  and  the  spring 
of  Sanchorquiz  were  beds  of  bluish-gray  primitive 
limestone,  containing  mica,  and  traversed  by  veins 
of  white  calcareous  spar.  In  this  deposite  were 
found  crystals  of  pyrites  and  rhomboidal  fragments 
of  sparry  iron-ore. 


CHAiPTER  XIL 

City  of  Caraccas  and  surrounding  District. 

City  of  Caraccas— General  View  of  Venezuela — Population — Climate — 
Character  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Caraccas — Ascent  of  the  Silla — Geo- 
logical Nature  of  the  District,  and  the  Mines. 

CARACCAS,  the  capital  of  the  former  captain-gen- 
eralship of  Venezuelan's  more  known  to  Europeans 
on  account  of  the  earthquakes  by  which  it  was  des- 
olated than  from  its  importance  in  a  political  or  com- 
inercial  point  of  view.  At  the  present  day  it  is  the 
chief  city  of  a  district  of  the  same  name,  forming 
part  of  the  republic  of  Colombia ;  though,  at  the 
time  of  Humboldt's  visit,  it  was  the  metropolis  of  a 
Spanish  colony  which  contained  nearly  a  million  of 
inhabitants,  and  consisted  of  New- Andalusia,  or  the 
province  of  Cunrana,  New-Barcelona,  Venezuela  or 
Caraccas,  Coro,  and  Maracaybo,  along  the  coast ; 
and  in  the  interior,  the  provinces  of  Varinas  and 
Guiana. 


124  THREE    DISTINCT    ZONES. 

In  a  general  point  of  view  Venezuela  presents 
three  distinct  zones.  Along  the  shore,  and  near  the 
chain  of  mountains  which  skirts  it,  we  find  culti- 
vated land ;  behind  this,  savannas  or  pasturages  ;  and 
beyond  the  Orinoco,  a  mass  of  forests,  penetrable 
only  by  means  of  the  rivers  by  which  it  is  traversed. 
In  these  three  belts,  the  three  principal  stages  of 
civilization  are  found  more  distinct  than  in  almost 
any  other  region.  We  have  the  life  of  the  wild 
hunter  in  the  woody  district — the  pastoral  life  in  the 
savannas — and  the  agricultural  in  the  valleys  and 
plains  which  descend  to  various  parts  of  the  coast. 
Missionaries  and  a  few  soldiers  occupy  advanced 
posts  on  the  southern  frontiers.  In  this  section  are 
felt  the  preponderance  of  force  and  the  abuse  of 
power.  The  native  tribes  are  engaged  in  perpetual 
hostilities;  the  monks  endeavour  to  augment  the 
little  villages  of  their  missions  by  availing  them- 
selves of  the  dissensions  of  the  Indians ;  and  the 
soldiers  live  in  a  state  of  war  with  the  clergy.  In 
the  second  division,  that  of  the  plains  and  prairies, 
where  food  is  extremely  abundant,  little  advance  has 
been  made  in  civilization,  and  the  inhabitants  live  in 
huts  partly  covered  with  skins.  It  is  in  the  third 
district  alone,  where  agriculture  and  commerce  are 
pursued,  that  society  has  made  any  progress. 

In  following  our  travellers  through  these  interest- 
ing countries,  it  is  necessary  that  we  lose  sight  in 
some  measure  of  the  present  constitution  of  the 
South  American  states,  and  view  them  simply  as 
Spanish  provinces.  When  we  seek,  says  Humboldt, 
to  form  a  precise  idea  of  those  vast\  regions,  which 
for  ages  have  been  governed  by  viceroys  and  cap- 
tains-general, we  must  fix  our  attention  on  several 
points.  We  must  distinguish  the  parts  of  Spanish 
America  that  are  opposite  to  Asia,  and  those  that  are 
washed  by  the  Atlantic, — we  must  observe  where  the 
greatest  part  of  the  population  is  placed,  whether  near 
the  coast,  or  in  the  interior,  or  on  the  table-lands  of  the 


POPULATION    OF    VENEZUELA.  125 

Cordilleras, — we  must  determine  the  numerical  pro- 
portions between  the  natives  and  other  inhabitants, 
and  examine  to  what  race,  in  each  part  of  the  col- 
onies, the  greater  number  of  whites  belong.  The 
inhabitants  of  the  different  districts  of  the  mother- 
country  preserve  in  some  measure  their  moral  pecu- 
liarities in  the  New  World,  although  they  have  under- 
gone various  modifications  depending  upon  the  phy- 
sical constitution  of  their  new  abode.  » 

In  Venezuela,  whatever  is  connected  with  an  ad- 
vanced state  of  civilization  is  found  along  the  coast, 
which  has  an  extent  of  more  than  two  hundred 
leagues.  It  is  washed  by  the  Caribbean  Sea,  a  kind 
of  Mediterranean,  on  the  shores  of  which  almost 
all  the  European  nations  have  founded  colonies, 
and  which  communicates  at  several  points  with  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  Possessing  much  facility  of  inter- 
course with  the  inhabitants  of  other  parts  of  Amer- 
ica, and  with  those  of  Europe,  the  natives  have  ac- 
quired a  great  degree  of  knowledge  and  opulence. 

The  Indians  constitute  a  large  proportion  of  the 
agricultural  residents  in  those  places  only  where  the 
conquerors  found  regular  and  long-established  gov- 
ernments, as  in  New  Spain  and  Peru.  In  the  prov- 
ince of  Caraccas,  for  example,  the  native  popula- 
tion is  inconsiderable,  having  been  in  1800  not  more 
than  one-ninth  of  the  whole,  while  in  Mexico  it 
formed  nearly  one-half.  The  black  slaves  do  not 
exceed  one-fifteenth  of  the  general  mass,  whereas 
in  Cuba  they  were  in  1811  as  one  to  three,  and  in 
other  West  India  islands  still  more  numerous.  In 
the  seven  United  Provinces  of  Venezuela  there 
were  60,000  slaves ;  while  Cuba,  which  has  but  one- 
eighth  of  the  extent,  had  212,000.  The  blacks  of 
these  countries  are  so  unequally  distributed,  that  in 
the  district  of  Caraccas  alone  there  were  nearly 
40,000,  of  which  one-fifth  were  mulattoes.  Hum- 
boldt  estimates  the  Creoles,  or  Hispano-Americans, 
L2 


126  CITY    OF    CARACCAS. 

at  210,000  in  a  population  of  900,000,  and  the  Euro- 
peans, not  including  troops,  at  12,000  or  15,000. 

Caraccas  was  then  the  seat  of  an  audiencia,  or 
high  court  of  justice,  and  one  of  the  eight  arch- 
bishoprics into  which  Spanish  America  was  divided. 
Its  population  in  1800  was  about  40,000.  In  1766 
great  devastation  was  made  by  the  small-pox,  from 
6000  to  8000  individuals  having  perished ;  but  since 
that  period  inoculation  has  become  general.  In 
1812  the  inhabitants  amounted  to  50,000,  of  which 
12,000  were  destroyed  by  the  earthquakes ;  while 
the  political  events  which  succeeded  that  catas- 
trophe reduced  their  number  to  less  than  twenty 
thousand. 

The  town  is  situated  at  the  entrance  of  the  valley 
of  Chacao,  which  is  ten  miles  in  length,  eight  and  a 
half  miles  in  breadth,  and  about  2660  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea.  The  ground  occupied  by  it  is  a 
steep  uneven  slope.  It  was  founded  by  Diego  de 
Losada  in  1567.  Three  small  rivers  descending 
from  the  mountains  traverse  the  line  of  its  direction ; 
it  contained  eight  churches,  five  convents,  and  a 
theatre  capable  of  holding  1500  or  1800  persons. 
The  streets  were  wide,  and  crossed  each  other  at 
right  angles  ;  the  houses  spacious  and  lofty. 

The  small  extent  of  the  valley,  and  the  proximity 
of  the  mountains  of  Avila  and  the  Silla,  give  a  stern 
and  gloomy  character  to  the  scenery,  particularly  in 
November  and  December,  when  the  vapours  accu- 
mulate towards  evening  along  the  high  grounds ;  in 
June  and  July,  however,  the  atmosphere  is  clear  and 
the  air  pure  and  delicious.  The  two  rounded  sum- 
mits of  the  latter  are  seen  from  Caraccas,  nearly 
under  the  same  angle  of  elevation  as  the  Peak  of 
Teneriffe  is  observed  from  Orotava.  The  first  half 
of  the  ascent  is  covered  with  grass ;  then  succeeds 
a  zone  of  evergreen  trees ;  while  above  this  the 
rocky  masses  rise  in  the  form  of  domes  destitute  of 
vegetation.  The  cultivated  region  below  forms  an 


CLIMATE.  127 

agreeable  contrast  to  the  sombre  aspect  of  the  tow- 
ering ridges  which  overhang  the  town,  as  well  as  of 
the  hills  to  the  north. 

The  climate  of  Caraccas  is  a  perpetual  spring,  the 
temperature  by  day  being  between  68°  and  79°,  and 
by  night  between  60°  and  64°.  It  is,  however,  liable 
to  great  variations,  and  the  inhabitants  complain  of 
having  several  seasons  in  twenty-four  hours,  as  well 
as  a  too  rapid  transition  from  one  to  another.  In 
January,  for  example,  a  night  of  which  the  mean 
heat  does  not  exceed  60°  is  followed  by  a  day  in 
which  the  thermometer  rises  above  71°  in  the  shade. 
Although  in  our  mild  climates  oscillations  of  this 
kind  produce  no  disagreeable  effects,  yet  in  the  tor- 
rid zone  Europeans  themselves  are  so  accustomed 
to  uniformity  in  the  temperature,  that  a  difference 
of  a  few  degrees  is  productive  of  unpleasant  sensa- 
tions. This  inconvenience  is  aggravated  here  by 
the  position  of  the  town  in  a  narrow  valley,  which 
is  at  one  time  swept  by  a  wind  from  the  coast,  loaded 
with  humidity,  and  depositing  its  moisture  in  the 
higher  regions  as  the  warmth  decreases ;  and  at  an- 
other by  a  dry  breeze  from  the  interior,  which  dissi- 
pates the  vapours  and  unveils  the  mountain-summits. 
This  inconstancy  of  climate,  however,  is  not  pecu- 
liar to  Caraccas,  but  is  common  to  the  whole  equi- 
noctial regions  near  the  tropics.  Uninterrupted 
serenity  during  a  great  part  of  the  year  prevails  only 
in  the  low  districts  adjoining  the  sea,  or  on  the  ele- 
vated table-lands  of  the  interior.  The  intermediate 
zone  is  misty  and  variable. 

In  this  province  the  sky  is  generally  less  blue  than 
at  Cumana.  The  intensity  of  colour  measured  by 
Saussure's  cyanometer  was  commonly  18°,  and 
never  above  20°,  from  November  to  January,  while 
on  the  coasts  it  was  from  22°  to  25°.  The  mean 
temperature  is  estimated  by  Humboldt  at  68°  or  72°. 
The  heat  very  seldom  rises  to  84°,  and  in  winter 
it  has  been  observed  to  fall  as  low  as  52°.  The 


128  RESIDENCE   AT    CARACCAS. 

cold  at  night  is  more  felt  on  account  of  its  being 
usually  accompanied  by  a  misty  sky.  Rains  are 
very  frequent  in  April,  May,  and  June.  No  hail  falls 
in  the  low  regions  of  the  tropics,  but  it  is  seen  here 
every  fourth  or  fifth  year. 

The  coffee-tree  is  much  cultivated  in  the  valley, 
and  the  sugar-cane  thrives  even  at  a  still  greater 
height.  The  banana,  the  pineapple,  the  vine,  the 
strawberry,  the  quince,  the  apple,  the  peach,  to- 
gether with  maize,  pulse,  and  corn,  grow  in  great 
perfection.  But  although  the  atmospheric  consti- 
tution of  this  alpine  vale  be  favourable  to  diversified 
culture,  it  is  not  equally  so  to  the  health  of  the  in- 
habitants, as  the  inconstancy  of  the  weather  and  the 
frequent  suppression  of  cutaneous  perspiration  give 
rise  to  catarrhal  affections ;  and  a  European,  once 
accustomed  to  the  violent  heat,  enjoys  better  health 
in  the  low  country,  where  the  air  is  not  very  humid, 
than  in  the  elevated  and  cooler  districts. 

The  travellers  remained  two  months  at  Caraccas, 
where  they  lived  in  a  large  house  in  the  upper  part 
of  the  town,  from  which  they  had  an  extensive  view 
of  the  mountain-plain,  the  ridge  of  the  Gallipano, 
and  the  summit  of  the  Silla.  It  was  the  season  of 
drought,  and  the  conflagrations  intended  to  improve 
the  pasturage  produced  the  most  singular  effects 
when  seen  at  night. 

They  experienced  the  greatest  kindness  from  all 
classes  of  the  inhabitants,  and  more  especially  from 
the  captain-general  of  the  province,  M.  de  Guevara 
Vascongelos.  Caraccas  being  situated  on  the  con- 
tinent, and  its  population  less  mutable  than  that  of 
the  islands,  the  national  manners  had  not  undergone 
so  material  a  change.  Notwithstanding  the  increase 
of  the  blacks,  says  Humboldt,  at  Caraccas  and  the 
Havana,  we  seem  to  be  nearer  Cadiz  and  the 
United  States  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  New 
World.  There  was  nothing  to  be  seen  of  the  cold 
and  assuming  air  so  common  in  Europe;  on  the 


ASCENT    OF    THE    SILLA.  129 

contrary,  conviviality,  candour,  uniform  cheerful- 
ness, and  politeness  of  address,  characterized  the 
natives  of  Spanish  origin.  The  travellers  found  in 
several 'families  a  taste  for  instruction,  some  know- 
ledge of  French  and  Italian  literature,  and  a  particular 
predilection  for  music.  But  there  was  a  total  de- 
ficiency of  scientific  attainments  ;  nor  had  the  sim- 
plest of  all  the  physical  sciences,  botany,  a  single 
cultivator.  Previous  to  1806  there  were  no  printing- 
offices  in  Caraccas. 

Believing  that  in  a  country  which  presents  such 
enchanting  views,  and  exhibits  such  a  profusion  of 
natural  productions,  he  should  find  many  persons 
well  acquainted  with  the  surrounding  mountains, 
Humboldt  yet  failed  to  discover  one  individual  who 
had  visited  the  summit  of  the  Silla.  But  the  gov- 
ernor having  ordered  the  proprietor  of  a  plantation 
to  furnish  the  philosophers  with  negro  guides  who 
knew  something  of  the  way,  they  prepared  for  the 
ascent. 

As  in  the  whole  month  of  December  the  moun- 
tain had  appeared  only  five  times  without  clouds, 
and  as  at  that  season  two  clear  days  seldom  succeed 
each  other,  they  were  advised  to  choose  for  their 
excursion  an  interval  when,  the  clouds  being  low, 
they  might  hope  by  passing  through  them  to  enter 
into  a  transparent  atmosphere.  They  spent  the  night 
of  the  2d  of  January  at  a  coffee-plantation,  near  a 
ravine,  in  which  the  little  river  Chacaito  formed 
some  fine  cascades.  At  five  in  the  morning  they 
set  out,  accompanied  by  slaves  carrying  their  instru- 
ments, and  about  seven  reached  a  promontory  of  the 
Silla,  connected  with  the  body  of  the  mountain  by 
a  narrow  dike.  The  weather  was  fine  and  cool, 
They  proceeded  along  this  ridge  of  rocks,  between 
two  deep  valleys  covered  with  vegetation ;  the  large, 
shining,  and  coriaceous  leaves,  illumined  by  the  sun, 
presenting  a  very  picturesque  appearance.  Beyond 
this  point  the  ascent  became  very  steep,  the  ac- 


130  VEGETATION   AND    MINERALS. 

clivity  being  often  from  32°  to  33°.  The  surface 
was  covered  with  short  grass,  which  afforded  no 
support  when  laid  hold  of,  and  it  was  impossible  to 
imprint  steps  in  the  gneiss.  The  persons  who  had 
accompanied  them  from  the  town  were  discouraged, 
and  at  length  retired. 

Slender  streaks  of  mist  began  to  issue  from  the 
woods,  and  afforded  indications  of  a  dense  fog.  The 
familiar  loquacity  of  the  negro  Creoles  formed  a 
striking  contrast  to  the  gravity  of  the  Indians  who 
had  attended  the  travellers  in  the  missions  of  Caripe. 
They  amused  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  de- 
serters, among  whom  was  a  young  Capuchin  monk, 
a  professor  of  mathematics,  who  had  promised  to 
fire  off  dockets  from  the  top  of  the  mountain,  to  an- 
nounce to  the  inhabitants  of  Caraccas  the  success 
of  the  expedition. 

The  eastern  peak  being  the  most  elevated,  they 
directed  their  course  to  it.  The  depression  between 
the  two  summits  has  given  rise  to  the  name  Silla, 
which  signifies  a  saddle.  From  this  hollow  a  ravine 
descends  towards  the  valley  of  Caraccas.  This  nar- 
row opening  originates  near  the  western  dome,  and 
the  eastern  summit  is  accessible  only  by  going  first 
to  the  westward  of  it,  straight  over  the  promontory 
of  the  Puerta. 

From  the  foot  of  the  cascade  of  Chacaito  to  an 
elevation  of  6395  feet  they  found  only  savannas  or 
pastures,  among  which  were  observed  two  small 
liliaceous  plants  with  yellow  flowers  and  some  bram- 
bles. Mixed  with  the  latter  they  expected  to  find  a 
wild  rose,  but  were  disappointed ;  nor  did  they  sub- 
sequently meet  with  a  single  species  of  that  genus 
in  any  part  of  South  America. 

Sometimes  lost  in  the  mist,  they  made  their  way 
with  difficulty,  and  there  being  no  path,  they  were 
obliged  to  use  their  hands  in  climbing  the  steep  and 
slippery  ascent.  A  vein  of  porcelain-clay,  the  re- 
mains of  decomposed  felspar,  attracted  their  atten- 


ALPINE    PLANTS.  131 

tion.  Whenever  the  clouds  surrounded  them  the 
thermometer  fell  to  53'6° ;  but  when  the  sky  was 
clear  it  rose  to  69 '8°.  At  the  height  of  6011  feet 
they  saw  in  a  ravine  a  wood  of  palms,  which  formed 
a  striking  contrast  with  the  willows  scattered  at  the 
bottom  of  the  valley. 

After  proceeding  four  hours  across  the  pastures 
they  entered  a  small  forest.  The  acclivity  became 
less  steep,  and  they  observed  a  profusion  of  rare  and 
beautiful  plants.  At  the  height  of  6395  feet  the 
savannas  terminate,  and  are  succeeded  by  a  zone  of 
shrubs  with  tortuous  branches,  rigid  leaves,  and 
large  purple  flowers,  consisting  of  rhododendra,  thi- 
baudiae,  andromedae,  vaccinia,  and  befariae. 

Leaving  this  little  group  of  alpine  plants  they 
again  found  themselves  in  a  savanna,  and  climbed 
over  part  of  the  western  dome,  to  descend  into  the 
hollow  which  separates  the  two  summits.  Here 
the  vegetation  was  so  strong  and  dense  that  they 
were  obliged  to  cut  their  way  through  it.  On  a 
.sudden  they  were  enveloped  in  a  thick  mist,  and 
being  in  danger  of  coming  inadvertently  upon  the 
brink  of  an  enormous  wall  of  rocks,  which  on  the 
north  side  descends  perpendicularly  to  the  depth  of 
more  than  6000  feet,  were  obliged  to  stop.  At  this 
point,  however,  the  negroes  who  carried  their  pro- 
visions, and  who  had  been  detained  by  the  recreant 
philosopher  already  mentioned,  overtook  them,  when 
they  made  a  poor  repast,  the  negroes  or  the  padre 
having  left  nothing  but  a  few  olives  and  a  little 
bread.  The  guides  were  discouraged,  and  were 
with  difficulty  prevented  from  returning. 

In  the  midst  of  the  fog  the  electrometer  of  Volta, 
armed  with  a  smoking  match,  gave  very  sensible 
signs  of  atmospheric  electricity,  varying  frequently 
from  positive  to  negative,  and  this,  together  with 
the  conflict  of  small  currents  of  air,  appeared  to  in- 
dicate a  change  of  weather.  It  was  only  two  in  the 
afternoon,  and  they  yet  entertained  some  hope  of 


132  IMMENSE    PRECIPICE. 

reaching  the  eastern  summit  before  sunset,  and  of 
returning  to  the  hollow  separating  the  two  peaks, 
where  they  might  pass  the  night.  With  this  view 
they  sent  half  of  their  attendants  to  procure  a  sup- 
ply, not  of  olives,  but  of  salt  beef.  These  arrange- 
ments were  scarcely  made  when  the  east  wind 
began  to  blow  violently,  and  in  less  than  two  minutes 
the  clouds  dispersed.  The  obstacles  presented  by 
the  vegetation  gradually  diminished  as  they  ap- 
proached the  eastern  summit,  in  order  to  attain 
which  it  was  necessary  to  go  close  to  the  great  pre- 
cipice. Hitherto  the  guests  had  preserved  its  lamel- 
lar structure ;  but  as  they  climbed  the  cone  of  the 
Silla  they  found  it  passing  into  granite,  containing, 
instead  of  garnets,  a  few  scattered  crystals  of  horn- 
blende. In  three-quarters  of  an  hour  they  reached 
the  top  of  the  pyramid,  which  was  covered  with 
grass,  and  for  a  few  minutes  enjoyed  all  the  serenity 
of  the  sky.  The  elevation  being  8633  feet,  the  eye 
commanded  a  vast  range  of  country.  The  slope, 
which  extends  nearly  to  the  sea,  had  an  angle  of 
53°  28',  though  when  viewed  from  the  coast  it  seems 
perpendicular.  Humboldt  remarks  that  a  precipice 
of  6000  or  7000  feet  is  a  phenomenon  much  rarer 
than  is  usually  believed,  and  that  a  rock  of  1600  feet 
of  perpendicular  height  has  in  vain  been  sought  for 
among  the  Swiss  Alps.  That  of  the  Silla  is  partly 
covered  with  vegetation,  tufts  of  befariae  and  andro- 
medae  appearing  as  if  suspended  from  the  rock. 

Seven  months  had  elapsed  since  they  were  on  the 
summit  of  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe,  where  the  apparent 
horizon  of  the  sea  is  six  leagues  farther  distant  than 
on  the  Silla;  yet  while  the  boundary  line  was  seen 
distinct  in  the  former  place  it  was  completely 
blended  with  the  air  in  the  latter.  The  western 
dome  concealed  the  town  of  Caraccas  ;  but  they  dis- 
tinguished the  villages  of  Chacao  and  Petare,  the 
coffee-plantations,  and  the  course  of  .the  Rio  Guayra. 
While  they  were  examining  the  part  of  the  sea 


BEES — SUMMIT    OF    THE    SILLA.  133 

where  the  horizon  was  well  defined,  and  the  great 
chain  of  mountains  in  the  distant  south,  a  dense  fog 
arose  from  the  plains,  and  they  were  obliged  to  use 
all  expedition  in  completing  their  observations. 

When  seated  on  the  rock,  employed  in  determin- 
ing the  dip  of  the  needle,  Humboldt  found  his  hands 
covered  by  a  species  of  hairy  bee,  a  little  smaller 
than  the  honey-bee  of  Europe.  These  insects  make 
their  nest  in  the  ground,  seldom  fly,  move  very 
slowly,  and  are  apt  to  use  their  sting,  the  guides 
asserting  that  they  do  so  only  when  seized  by  the 
legs. 

The  temperature  varied  from  52°  to  57°,  accord- 
ing as  the  weather  was  calm  or  otherwise. .  The 
dip  of  the  needle  was  one  centesimal  degree  less 
than  at  Caraccas.  The  breeze  was  from  the  east, 
which  might  indicate  that  the  trade-winds  extend 
in  this  latitude  much  higher  than  9600  feet.  The 
blue  of  the  atmosphere  was  deeper  than  on  the  coasts, 
Saussure'scyanometer  indicating  26'5°,  while  at  Ca- 
raccas it  generally  gave  only  18°  in  fine  dry  weather. 
The  phenomenon  that  most  struck  the  travellers  was 
the  apparent  aridity  of  the  air,  which  seemed  to  in- 
crease as  the  mist  thickened,  the  hygrometer  retro- 
grading,  and  their  clothes  remaining  dry. 

As  it  would  have  been  imprudent  to  remain  long 
in  a  dense  fog  on  the  brink  of  a  precipice,  the  trav- 
ellers descended  the  eastern  dome,  and  on  regaining 
the  hollow  between  the  two  summits,  were  sur- 
prised to  find  round  pebbles  of  quartz,  a  phenomenon 
which  perhaps  indicates  that  the  mountain  has  been 
raised  by  a  power  applied  from  below.  Relinquish- 
ing their  design  of  passing  the  night  in  that  valley, 
and  having  again  found  the  path  which  they  had  cut 
through  the  wood,  they  soon  arrived  at  the  district 
of  resinous  shrubs,  where  they  lingered  so  long  col- 
lecting plants  that  darkness  surprised  them  as  they 
entered  the  savanna.  The  moon  was  up,  but  every 
M 


134  DESCENT RAVINE    OF    T1PE. 

now  and  then  obscured  by  clouds.  The  guides  who 
carried  the  instruments  slunk  off  successively  to 
sleep  among  the  cliffs ;  and  it  was  not  until  ten  that 
the  travellers  arrived  at  the  bottom  of  the  ravine, 
overcome  by  thirst  and  fatigue. 

During  the  excursion  to  the  Silla,  and  in  all  their 
walks  in  the  valley  of  Caraccas,  they  were  very  at- 
tentive to  the  indication  of  ores  which  they  found  in 
the  gneiss  mountains.  In  America  that  rock  has  not 
hitherto  been  found  to  be  very  rich  in  metals  ;  the 
most  celebrated  mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru  being  in 
primitive  and  transition  slate,  trap,  porphyry,  gray- 
wacke,  and  alpine  limestone.  In  several  parts  of 
the  region  now  visited,  a  small  quantity  of  gold  was 
found  disseminated  in  veins  of  quartz,  sulphuretted 
silver,  blue  copper-ore,  arfd  leadglance ;  but  these 
deposites  did  not  seem  of  any  importance.  In  the 
group  of  the  western  mountains  of  Venezuela  the 
Spaniards,  in  1551,  attempted  the  gold  mine  of  Buria, 
but  the  works  were  soon  given  up.  In  the  vicinity 
of  Caraccas  some  had  also  been  wrought,  but  to  no 
great  extent.  In  short,  the  mines  here  afforded 
little  gratification  to  the  cupidity  of  the  conquerors, 
and  were  almost  totally  abandoned ;  those  of  Arva, 
near  San  Felipe  el  Fuerte,  being  the  only  ones  in 
operation  when  Humboldt  visited  the  country. 

In  the  course  of  their  investigations  the  travellers 
examined  the  ravine  of  Tipe,  situated  in  that  part 
of  the  valley  which  opens  towards  Cape  Blanco. 
The  first  portion  of  the  road  was  over  a  barren  and 
rocky  soil,  on  which  grew  a  few  plants  of  Ar~ 
gemone  Mecticana.  On  either  side  of  the  de-file  was  a 
range  of  bare  mountains,  and  at  this  spot  the  plain 
on  which  the  town  is  built  communicates  with  the 
coast  near  Catia  by  the  valleys  of  Tacagua  and 
Tipe.  In  the  former  they  found  some  plantations 
of  maize  and  plantains,  and  a  very  extensive  one  of 
cactuses  fifteen  feet  high.  They  met  with  several 


PHENOMENA  OF  EARTHQUAKES.      135 

veins  of  quartz,  containing  pyrites,  carbonated  iron- 
ore,  sulphuretted  silver,  and  gray  copper.  The 
works  that  had  been  undertaken  were  superficial, 
and  now  filled  up. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Earthquakes  of  Caraccas. 

Extensive  Connexion  of  Earthquakes— Eruption  of  the  Volcano  of  St. 
Vincent's— Earthquake  of  the  26th  March,  1812— Destruction  of  the 
City— Ten  Thousand  of  the  Inhabitants  killed— Consternation  of  the 
Survivors — Extent  of  the  Commotions. 

THE  valley  of  Caraccas,  a  few  years  after  Hum- 
boldt's  visit,  became  the  theatre  of  one  of  those 
physical  revolutions  which  from  time  to  time  pro- 
duce violent  alterations  upon  the  surface  of  our 
planet ;  involving  the  overthrow  of  cities,  the  de- 
struction of  human  life,  and  a  temporary  agitation 
of  those  elements  of  nature  on  which  the  system  of 
the  universe  is  founded.  In  the  narrative  of  his 
Journey  to  the  Equinoctial  Regions  of  the  New  Con- 
tinent, he  has  recorded  all  that  he  could  collect  with 
certainty  respecting  the  earthquake  of  the  26th 
March,  1812,  which  destroyed  the  city  of  Caraccas, 
together  with  20,000  inhabitants  of  the  province  of 
Venezuela. 

When  our  travellers  visited  those  countries,  they 
found  it  to  be  a  general  opinion  that  the  eastern 
parts  of  the  coasts  were  most  exposed  to  the  de- 
structive effects  of  such  concussions,  and  that  the 
elevated  districts,  remote  from  the  shores,  were  in 
a  great  measure  secure  ;  but  in  1811  all  these  ideas 
were  proved  groundless. 

At  Humboldt's  arrival  in  Terra  Firma,  he  was 
struck  with  the  connexion  which  appeared  between 


136  EARTHQUAKE    OF    CARACCAS. 

the  destruction  of  Cumana  in  1797  and  the  eruption 
of  volcanoes  in  the  smaller  West  India  islands.  A 
similar  principle  was  manifested  in  1812.  in  the  case 
of  Caraccas.  From  the  beginning  of  1811  till  1813, 
a  vast  extent  of  the  earth's  surface,  limited  by  the 
meridian  of  the  Azores,  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  the 
Cordilleras  of  New-Grenada,  the  coasts  of  Venezuela, 
and  the  volcanoes  of  the  West  Indies,  was  shaken 
by  subterranean  commotions,  indicative  of  a  common 
agency  exerted  at  a  great  depth  in  the  interior  of 
the  globe.  At  the  period  when  these  earthquakes 
commenced  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  the  city 
of  Caraccas  felt  the  first  shock  in  December,  1811; 
and  on  the  26th  of  March  1812  it  was  totally  de- 
stroyed. 

"  The  inhabitants  of  Terra  Firma  were  ignorant 
of  the  agitation,  which  on  the  one  hand  the  volcano 
of  the  island  of  St.  Vincent  had  experienced,  and  on 
the  other  the  basin  of  the  Mississippi,  where,  on  the 
7th  and  8th  of  February,  1812,  the  ground  was  day 
and  night  in  a  state  of  continual  oscillation.  At  this 
period  the  province  of  Venezuela  laboured  under 
great  drought ;  not  a  drop  of  rain  had  fallen  at  Ca- 
raccas, or  to  the  distance  of  311  miles  around,  during 
the  five  months  which  preceded  the  destruction  of 
the  capital.  The  26th  March  was  excessively  hot ; 
the  air  was  calm  and  the  sky  cloudless.  It  was 
Holy  Thursday,  and  a  great  part  of  the  population 
was  in  the  churches.  The  calamities  of  the  day 
were  preceded  by  no  indications  of  danger.  At 
seven  minutes  after  four  in  the  evening  the  first 
commotion  was  felt.  It  was  so  strong  as  to  make 
the  bells  of  the  churches  ring.  It  lasted  from  five 
to  six  seconds,  and  was  immediately  followed  by  an- 
other shock  of  from  ten  to  twelve  seconds,  during 
which  the  ground  was  in  a  continual  state  of  undu- 
lation, and  heaved  like  a  fluid  under  ebullition.  The 
danger  was  thought  to  be  over,  when  a  prodigious 
subterranean  noise  was  heard,  resembling  the  rolling 


DESTRUCTION    OF    THE    CITY.  137 

of  thunder,  but  louder  and  more  prolonged  than  that 
heard  within  the  tropics  during-  thunder-storms. 
This  noise  preceded  a  perpendicular  motion  of  about 
three  or  four  seconds,  followed  by  an  undulatory 
motion  of  somewhat  longer  duration.  The  shocks 
were  in  opposite  directions,  from  north  to  south  and 
from  east  to  west.  It  was  impossible  that  any  thing 
could  resist  the  motion  from  beneath  upwards,  and 
the  undulations  crossing  each  other.  The  city  of 
Caraccas  was  completely  overthrown.  Thousands 
of  the  inhabitants  (from  nine  to  ten  thousand)  were 
buried  under  the  ruins  of  the  churches  and  houses. 
The  procession  had  not  yet  set  out ;  but  the  crowd 
in  the  churches  was  so  great  that  nearly  three  or 
four  thousand  individuals  were  crushed  to  death  by 
Jhe  falling  in  of  the  vaulted  roofs.  The  explosion 
fcras  stronger  on  the  north  side  of  the  town,  in  the 
part  nearest  the  mountain  of  Avila  and  the  Silla. 
The  churches  of  the  Trinity  and  Alta  Gracia,  which 
were  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  height, 
and  of  which  the  nave  was  supported  by  pillars  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  feet  in  diameter,  left  a  mass  of 
ruins  nowhere  higher  than  five  or  six  feet.  The 
sinking  of  the  ruins  has  been  so  great  that  at  pres- 
ent hardly  any  vestige  remains  of  the  pillars  and 
columns.  The  barracks  called  El  Quartel  de  San 
Carlos,  situated  farther  to  the  north  of  the  church 
of  the  Trinity,  on  the  road  to  the  custom-house  de  la 
Pastora,  almost  entirely  disappeared.  A  regiment 
of  troops  of  the  line,  which  was  assembled  in  it 
under  arms  to  join  in  the  procession,  was,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  individuals,  buried  under  this 
large  building.  Nine-tenths  of  the  fine  town  of  Ca- 
raccas were  entirely  reduced  to  ruins.  The  houses 
which  did  not  fall,  as  those  of  the  street  of  San  Juan, 
near  the  Capuchin  Hospital,  were  so  cracked  that 
no  one  could  venture  to  live  in  them.  The  effects 
of  the  earthquake  were  not  quite  so  disastrous  in 
the  southern  and  western  parts  of  the  town,  be- 
M2 


138      INHUMATION  OF  THE  WOUNDED. 

tween  the  great  square  and  the  ravine  of  Caraguata ; 
— there  the  cathedral,  supported  by  enormous  but- 
tresses, remains  standing. 

"  In  estimating  the  number  of  persons  killed  in 
the  city  of  Caraccas  at  nine  or  ten  thousand,  we  do 
not  include  those  unhappy  individuals  who  were 
severely  wounded,  and  perished  several  months  after 
from  want  of  food  and  proper  attention.  The  night 
of  Holy  Thursday  presented  the  most  distressing 
scenes  of  desolation  and  sorrow.  The  thick  cloud 
of  dust,  which  rose  above  the  ruins  and  darkened  the 
air  like  a  mist,  had  fallen  again  to  the  ground  ;  the 
shocks  had  ceased ;  never  was  there  a  finer  or  quieter 
night, — the  moon,  nearly  at  the  full,  illuminated  the 
rounded  summits  of  the  Silla,  and  the  serenity  of 
the  heavens  contrasted  strongly  with  the  state  of 
the  earth,  which  was  strewn  with  ruins  and  dead 
bodies.  Mothers  were  seen  carrying  in  their  arms 
children  whom  they  hoped  to  recall  to  life;  desolate 
females  ran  through  the  city  in  quest  of  a  brother,  a 
husband,  or  a  friend,  of  whose  fate  they  were  igno- 
rant, and  whom  they  supposed  to  have  been  sepa- 
rated from  them  in  the  crowd.  The  people  pressed 
along  the  streets,  which  now  could  only  be  distin- 
guished by  heaps  of  ruins  arranged  in  lines. 

"  All  the  calamities  experienced  in  the  great 
earthquakes  of  Lisbon,  Messina,  Lima,  and  Rio- 
bamba  were  repeated  on  the  fatal  day  of  the  26th 
March,  1812.  The  wounded,  buried  under  the  ruins, 
implored  the  assistance  of  the  passers-by  with  loud 
cries,  and  more  than  two  thousand  of  them  were 
dug  out.  Never  was  pity  displayed  in  a  more  af- 
fecting manner ;  never,  we  may  say,  was  it  seen 
more  ingeniously  active  than  in  the  efforts  made  to 
succour  the  unhappy  persons  whose  groans  reached 
the  ear.  There  was  an  entire  want  of  instruments 
adapted  for  digging  up  the  ground  and  clearing  away 
the  ruins,  and  the  people  were  obliged  to  use  their 
hands  for  the  purpose  of  disinterring  the  living. 


MORAL    EFFECTS    OF    THE    EARTHQUAKE.      139 

Those  who  were  wounded,  as  well  as  the  patients 
who  had  escaped  from  the  hospitals,  were  placed  on 
the  bank  of  the  little  river  of  Guayra,  where  they 
had  no  other  shelter  than  the  foliage  of  the  trees. 
Beds,  linen  for  dressing  their  wounds,  surgical  in- 
struments, medicines,  in  short,  every  thing  necessary 
for  their  treatment,  had  been  buried  in  the  ruins. 
During  the  first  days  nothing  could  be  procured, — 
not  even  food.  Within  the  city  water  became 
equally  scarce.  The  commotion  had  broken  the 
pipes  of  the  fountains,  and  the  falling  in  of  the  earth 
had  obstructed  the  springs  which  supplied  them.  To 
obtain  water  it  was  necessary  to  descend  as  far  as 
the  Rio  Guayra,  which  was  considerably  swelled, 
and  there  were  no  vessels  for  drawing  it. 

"  There  remained  to  be  performed  towards  the 
dead  a  duty  imposed  alike  by  piety  and  the  dread  of 
infection.  As  it  was  impossible  to  inter  so  many 
thousands  of  bodies  half-buried  in  the  ruins,  com- 
missioners were  appointed  to'burn  them.  Funeral- 
piles  were  erected  among  the  heaps  of  rubbish. 
This  ceremony  lasted  several  days.  Amid  so  many 
public  calamities,  the  people  ardently  engaged  in  the 
religious  exercises  which  they  thought  best  adapted 
to  appease  the  anger  of  Heaven.  Some  walked 
in  bodies  chanting  funeral-hymns,  while  others,  in 
a  state  of  distraction,  confessed  themselves  aloud 
in  the  streets.  In  this  city  was  now  repeated  what 
had  taken  place  in  the  province  of  Quito  after  the 
dreadful  earthquake  of  the  4th  February,  1797.  Mar- 
riages were  contracted  between  persons  who  for 
many  years  had  neglected  to  sanction  their  union  by 
the  sacerdotal  blessing.  Children  found  parents  in 
persons  who  had  till  then  disavowed  them  ;  restitu- 
tion was  promised  by  individuals  who  had  never  been 
accused  of  theft ;  and  families  who  had  long  been 
at  enmity  drew  together,  from  the  feeling  of  a  com- 
mon evil.  But  while  in  some  this  feeling  seemed  to 
soften  the  heart  and  open  it  to  compassion,  it  had  a 


140  COMMOTIONS    OF    THE   EARTH 

contrary  effect  on  others,  rendering  them  more  obdu- 
rate and  inhuman.  In  great  calamities  vulgar  minds 
retain  still  less  goodness  than  strength ;  for  misfor- 
tune acts  like  the  pursuit  of  literature  and  the  in- 
vestigation of  nature,  which  exercise  their  happy 
influence  only  upon  a  few,  giving  more  warmth  to 
the  feelings,  more  elevation  to  the  mind,  and  more 
benevolence  to  the  character. 

"  Shocks  so  violent  as  these,  which  in  the  space 
of  one  minute  overthreAv  the  city  of  Caraccas,  could 
not  be  confined  to  a  small  portion  of  the  continent. 
Their  fatal  effects  extended  to  the  provinces  of 
Venezuela,  Varinas,  and  Maracaybo,  along  the  coast, 
and  were  more  especially  felt  in  the  mountains  of 
the  interior.  La  Guayra,  Mayguetia,  Antimana, 
Baruta,  La  Vega,  San  Felipe,  and  Merida  were 
almost  entirely  destroyed.  The  number  of  dead 
exceeded  four  or  five  thousand  at  La  Guayra  and 
at  the  villa  de  San  Felipe,  near  the  copper-mines  of 
Aroa.  The  earthquake  would  appear  to  have  been 
most  violent  along  a  line  running  from  E.N.E.  to 
W.S.W.,  from  Guayra  and  Caraccas  towards  the 
high  mountains  of  Niquitas  and  Merida.  It  was  felt 
in  the  kingdom  of  New-Grenada,  from  the  ramifica- 
tions of  the  lofty  Sierra  of  Santa  Martha  to  Santa 
Fe  de  Bogota,  and  Honda  on  the  banks  of  the  Mag- 
dalena,  620  miles  distant  from  Caraccas.  In  all  parts 
it  was  more  violent  in  the  cordilleras  of  gneiss  and 
mica-slate,  or  immediately  at  their  base,  than  in 
the  plains.  This  difference  was  particularly  remark- 
able in  the  savannas  of  Varinas  and  Casanare.  In 
the  valleys  of  Aragua,  situated  between  Caraccas 
and  the  town  of  San  Felipe,  the  shocks  were  very 
weak.  La  Victoria,  Maracay,  and  Valencia  scarcely 
suffered,  notwithstanding  the  proximity  of  the  capi- 
tal. At  Valecillo,  not  many  leagues  distant  from 
Valencia,  the  ground  opened  and  emitted  so  great  a 
mass  of  water  that  a  new  torrent  was  formed.  The 
same  phenomenon  took  place  near  Porto  Cabello. 


IN    OTHER    DISTRICTS.  141 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Lake  of  Maracaybo  underwent 
considerable  diminution.  At  Coro  no  commotion 
was  felt,  although  the  town  was  situated  on  the  coast 
between  other  towns  which  suffered.  The  fishermen 
who  had  passed  the  day  of  the  26th  March  in  the 
island  of  Orchila,  130  miles  N.E.  of  La  Guayra, 
were  not  sensible  of  *any  shock." 

Towards  the  east  of  Caraccas  the  commotions 
were  very  violent,  especially  beyond  Caurimare,  in 
the  valley  of  Capaya,  and  as  far  as  the  meridian  of 
Cape  Codera,  while  they  were  very  feeble  on  the 
coasts  of  New-Barcelona,  Cumana,  and  Paria,  though 
these  shores  are  known  to  have  been  formerly  shaken 
by  volcanic  vapours. 

Fifteen  or  eighteen  hours  after  the  great  catas- 
trophe the  ground  ceased  to  be  agitated ;  but  subse- 
quently to  the  27th  the  tremblings  recommenced, 
and  were  accompanied  with  very  loud  subterranean 
noises.  Frequently  not  less  than  fifteen  oscillations 
were  felt  in  one  day.  On  the  5th  April  there  was 
an  earthquake  almost  as  severe  as  that  of  the  12th 
March.  The  surface  was  in  continuous  undulation 
during  several  hours,  large  masses  of  earth  fell  in 
the  mountains,  and  enormous  rocks  were  detached 
from  the  Silla. 

While  violent  agitations  were  experienced  in  the 
valley  of  the  Mississippi,  in  the  island  of  St.  Vincent, 
and  in  the  province  of  Venezuela,  a  subterranean 
noise,  resembling  an  explosion  of  artillery,  was 
heard  at  Caraccas,  at  Calabozo,  and  on  the  banks  of 
the  Rio  Apure,  over  the  space  of  four  thousand 
square  leagues.  This  sound  began  at  two  in  the 
morning  of  the  30th  April,  and  was  as  loud  on  the 
coast  as  at  the  distance  of  eighty  leagues.  It  was 
everywhere  taken  for  the  firing  of  guns.  On  the 
same  day  a  great  eruption  of  the  volcano  of  the 
island  of  St.  Vincent  took  place.  This  mountain 
had  not  ejected  lava  since  1718,  and  hardly  any 
smoke  was  issuing  from  it,  when  in  May,  1811,  fre- 


142  DEPARTURE    FROM   CARACCAS. 

quent  shocks  occurred,  and  a  discharge  of  ashes, 
attended  with  a  tremendous  bellowing,  followed  on 
the  27th  April  next 'year.  On  the  30th  the  lava 
flowed,  and  after  a  course  of  four  hours  reached  the 
sea.  The  explosions  resembled  alternate  volleys 
of  very  large  cannon  and  musketry.  As  the  space 
between  the  volcano  of  St.  Vincent  and  the  Rio 
Apure  is  725  miles,  these  were  heard  at  a  distance 
equal  to  that  between  Vesuvius  and  Paris,  and  must 
have  been  propagated  by  the  earth,  and  not  by 
the  air. 

After  adducing  numerous  instances  of  the  coinci- 
dence of  volcanic  eruptions  and  earthquakes-,  Hum- 
boldt  endeavours  to  prove  that  subterranean  com- 
munications extend  to  vast  distances,  that  the  phe- 
nomena of  volcanoes  and  earthquakes  are  intimately 
connected,  and  that  the  latter  have  certain  lines  of 
direction. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Journey  from  Caraccas  to  the  Lake  of  Valencia. 

Departure  from  Caraccas — LaBuenavista — Vaiteysof  San  Pedro  and  the 
Tuy— Manterola— Zarnang-tree — Valleys  of  Aragua— Lake  of  Valencia 
— Diminution  of  its  Waters— Hot  Springs — Jaguar — New- Valencia — 
Thermal  Waters  of  La  Trinchera— Porto  Cabello — Cow-tree — Cocoa- 
plantations— General  View  of  the  Littoral  District  of  Venezuela. 

LEAVING  the  city  of  Caraccas,  on  their  way  to  the 
Orinoco,  our  travellers  slept  the  first  night  at  the 
base  of  the  woody  mountains  which  close  the  valley 
towards  the  south-west.  They  followed  the  right 
bank  of  the  Rio  Giiayra,  as  far  as  the  village  Anti- 
mano,  by  an  excellent  road,  partly  scooped  out  of 
the  rock.  The  mountains  were  all  of  gneiss  or 
mica-slate.  A  little  before  reaching  that  hamlet  they 


COFFEE    PLANTATIONS.  143 

observed  two  large  veins  of  gneiss  in  the  slate,  con- 
taining balls  of  granular  diabase  or  greenstone,  com- 
posed of  felspar  and  hornblende,  with  garnet  dis- 
seminated. In  the  vicinity  all  the  orchards  were 
full  of  peach-trees  covered  with  flowers.  Between 
Antimano  and  Ajuntas,  they  crossed  the  Rio  Guayra 
seventeen  times,  and  proceeded  along  the  bottom  of 
the  valley.  The  river  was  bordered  by  a  gramineous 
plant,  the  Gyneriwn  saccharoides,  which  sometimes 
reaches  the  height  of  32  feet,  while  the  huts  were 
surrounded  by  enormous  trees  of  Laurus  persea, 
covered  by  creepers.  They  passed  the  night  in  a 
sugar-plantation.  In  a  square  house  were  nearly 
eighty  negroes,  lying  on  skins  of  oxen  spread  on  the 
floor,  while  a  dozen  fires  were  burning  in  the  yard, 
at  which  people  were  cooking. 

A  great  predilection  for  the  culture  of  the  coffee- 
tree  was  entertained  in  the  province.  The  young 
plants  were  chiefly  procured  by  exposing  the  seeds 
to  germination  between  plaintain-leaves.  They 
were  then  sown,  and  produced  shoots  better  adapted 
to  bear  the  heat  of  the  sun  than  such  as  spring  up  in 
the  shade  of  the  plantations.  The  tree  bears  flowers 
only  the  second  year,  and  its  blossoms  last  only 
twenty-four  hours.  The  returns  of  the  third  year 
are  very  abundant ;  at  an  average  each  plant  yield- 
ing a  pound  and  a  half  or  two  pounds  of  coffee. 
Humboldt,  remarks,  that  although  it  is  not  yet  a 
century  since  the  first  trees  were  introduced  at 
Surinam  and  in  the  West  Indies,  the  produce  of 
America  already  amounts  to  fifteen  millions  of  pias- 
ters, or  2,437,500Z.  sterling. 

On  the  8th  February  the  travellers  set  out  at  sun- 
rise, and  after  passing  the  junction  of  the  two  small 
rivers  San  Pedro  and  Macarao,  which  form  the  Rio 
Guayra,  ascended  a  steep  hill  to  the  table-land  of  La 
Buenavista.  The  country  here  had  a  wild  appear- 
ance, and  was  thickly  wooded.  The  road,  which 
was  so  much  frequented  that  long  files  of  mules  and 


144  VALLEY    OF   THE    TTJY. 

oxen  met  them  at  every  step,  was  cut  out  of  a  tal* 
cose  gneiss,  in  a  state  of  decomposition.  Descend- 
ing from  that  point,  they  came  upon  a  ravine,  in 
which  a  fine  spring  formed  several  cascades.  Here 
they  found  an  abundant  and  diversified  vegetation, 
consisting  of  arborescent  ferns,  more  than  twenty- 
seven  feet  high,  heliconias,  plumerias,  browneae, 
gigantic  figs,  palms,  and  other  plants.  The  brownea, 
which  bears  four  or  five  hundred  purple  flowers  in  a 
single  thyrsus,  reaches  the  height  of  fifty  or  sixty 
feet. 

At  the  base  of  the  wooded  mountain  of  Higuerota 
they  entered  the  small  village  of  San  Pedro,  situated 
in  a  basin  where  several  valleys  meet.  Plantains, 
potatoes,  and  coffee  were  sedulously  cultivated. 
The  rock  was  mica-slate,  filled  with  garnets,  and 
containing  beds  of  serpentine  of  a  fine  green,  varied 
with  spots  of  a  lighter  tint. 

Ascending  from  the  low  ground,  they  passed  by 
the  farms  of  Las  Lagunetas  and  Garavatos,  near  the 
latter  of  which  there  is  a  mica-slate  rock  of  a  singular 
form, — that  of  a  ridge,  or  wall,  crowned  by  a  tower. 
The  country  is  mountainous,  and  almost  entirely 
uninhabited ;  but  beyond  this  they  entered  a  fertile 
district,  covered  with  hamlets  and  small  towns. 
This  beautiful  region  is  the  valley  of  the  Tuy,  where 
they  spent  two  days  at  the  plantation  of  Don  Jose 
de  Manterola,  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  the  water  of 
which  was  as  clear  as  crystal.  Here  they  observed 
three  species  of  sugar-cane,  the  old  Creole,  the  Ota- 
heitan,  and  the  Batavian,  which  are  easily  distin- 
guished, and  of  which  the  most  valuable  is  the  Ota- 
heitan,  as  it  not  only  yields  a  third  more  of  juice 
than  the  creole  cane,  but  furnishes  a  much  greater 
quantity  of  fuel. 

As  this  valley,  like  most  other  parts  of  the  Span- 
ish colonies,  has  its  gold  mine,  Humboldt  was  de- 
sired to  visit  it.  In  the  ravine  leading  to  it  an  enor- 
mous tree  fixed  the  attention  of  the  travellers.  It 


GIGANTIC   TREE.  145 

had  grown  on  a  steep  declivity  above  a  house,  which 
it  was  apprehended  it  might  injure  in  its  fall,  should 
the  earth  happen  to  give  way.  It  had  therefore  been 
burnt  near  the  root,  and  cut  so  as  to  sink  between 
some  large  fig-trees,  which  would  prevent  it  from 
rolling  down.  It  was  eight  and  a  half  feet  in  diam- 
eter at  the  lower  end,  four  feet  five  inches  at  the 
other  (the  top  having  been  burnt  off),  and  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  feet  in  length.  The  rocks  were  mica- 
slate  passing  into  talc-slate,  and  contained  masses 
of  bluish  granular  limestone,  together  with  graphite. 
At  the  place  where  the  gold-mine  was  said  to  have 
been  they  found  some  vestiges  of  a  vein  of  quartz ; 
but  the  subsidence  of  the  earth,  in  consequence  of 
the  rain,  rendered  it  impossible  to  make  any  observa- 
tion. The  travellers,  however,  found  a  recompense 
for  their  fatigues  in  the  harvest  of  plants  which  they 
made  in  the  thick  forest  abounding  in  cedraelas, 
browneas,  and  fig-trees.  They  were  struck  by  the 
woody  excrescences,  which,  as  far  as  twenty'  feet 
above  the  ground,  augment  the  thickness  of  the  lat- 
ter. Some  of  these  trunks  were  observed  to  be 
twenty-three  feet  in  diameter  near  the  roots. 

At  the  plantation  of  Tuy,  the  dip  of  the  needle 
was  41 '6°,  and  the  intensity  of  the  magnetic  power 
was  indicated  by  228  oscillations  in  ten  minutes. 
The  variation  of  the  former  was  4°  30'  N.E.  The 
zodiacal  light  appeared  almost  every  night  with  ex- 
traordinary brilliancy. 

On  the  llth,  at  sunrise,  they  left  the  plantation  of 
Manterola,  and  proceeded  along  the  beautiful  banks 
of  the  river.  At  a  farm  by  the  way  they  found  a 
negress  more  than  a  hundred  years  old,  seated  be- 
fore a  small  hut,  to  enjoy  the  benefit  of  the  sun's 
rays,  the  heat  of  which,  according  to  her  grandson, 
kept  her  alive.  As  they  drew  near  to  Victoria  the 
ground  became  smoother,  and  resembled  the  bottom 
of  a  lake,  the  waters  of  which  had  been  drained  off. 
The  neighbouring  hills  were  composed  of  calcareous 
N 


146  ZAMANG   OF   GTJAYRA. 

tufa.  Fields  of  corn  were  mingled  with  crops  of 
sugar-canes,  coffee,  and  plantains.  The  level  of 
the  country  above  the  sea  is  only  from  576  to  640 
yards  ;  and,  except  in  the  district  of  Quatro  Villas 
in  the  island  of  Cuba,  wheat  is  scarcely  cultivated 
in  large  quantities  in  any  other  part  of  the  equinoc- 
tial regions.  La  Victoria  and  the  neighbouring  vil- 
1  A^e  of  San  Matheo  yielded  4000  quintals,  or  3622 
cwt.,  annually.  It  is  sown  in  December,  and  is  fit 
for  being  cut  in  seventy  or  seventy-five  days.  The 
grain  is  large  and  white,  and  the  average  produce  is 
three  or  four  times  as  much  as  in  Europe.  The  cul- 
ture of  the  sugar-cane,  however,  is  still  more  pro- 
ductive. 

Proceeding  slowly  on  their  way,  the  travellers 
passed  through  the  villages  of  San  Matheo,  Turmero, 
and  Maracay,  where  every  thing  was  indicative  of 
prosperity.  "  On  leaving  the  village  of  Turmero," 
says  Humboldt,  "  we  discover,  at  the  distance  of  a 
league,  an  object  which  appears  on  the  horizon  like 
a  round  hillock,  or  a  tumulus  covered  with  vegeta- 
tion. It  is  not  a  hill,  however,  nor  a  group  of  very 
close  trees,  but  a  single  tree,  the  celebrated  Zamang 
of  Guayra,  known  over  the  whole  province  for  the 
enormous  extent  of  its  branches,  which  form  a  hemi- 
spherical top  of  614  feet  in  circumference.  The 
zamang  is  a  beautiful  species  of  mimosa,  whose 
tortuous  branches  divide  by  forking.  Its  slim  and 
delicate  foliage  is  agreeably  detached  on  the  blue  of 
the  sky.  We  rested  a  long  while  beneath  this 
vegetable  arch.  The  trunk  of  the  Guayra  zamang, 
which  grows  on  the  road  from  Turmero  to  Maracay, 
is  not  more  than  sixty-four  feet  high  and  nine  and  a 
half  in  diameter  ;  but  its  real  beauty  consists  in  the 
general  form  of  its  top.  The  branches  stretch  out 
like  the  spokes  of  a  great  umbrella,  and  all  incline 
towards  the  ground,  from  which  they  uniformly  re- 
main twelve  or  fifteen  feet  distant.  The  circumfe- 
rence of  the  branches  or  foliage  is  so  regular,  that  I 


POPULATION.  147 

found  the  different  diameters  205  and  198  feet.  One 
side  of  the  tree  was  entirely  stripped  of  leaves  from 
the  effect  of  drought,  while  on  the  other  both  foliage 
and  flowers  remained.  The  branches  were  covered 
with  creeping-plants.  The  inhabitants  of  these  val- 
leys, and  especially  the  Indians,  have  a  great  vene- 
ration for  the  Guayra  zamang,  which  the  first  con- 
querors seem  to  have  found  nearly  in  the  same  state 
as  that  in  which  we  now  see  it.  Since  it  has  been 
attentively  observed,  no  change  has  been  noticed  in 
its  size  or  form.  It  must  be  at  least  as  old  as  the 
dragon-tree  of  Orotava.  Near  Turmero  and  the 
Hacienda  de  Cura,  there  are  other  trees  of  the  same 
species,  with  larger  trunks  ;  but  their  hemispherical 
tops  do  not  spread  so  widely." 

The  valleys  of  Aragua  at  this  time  contained 
more  than  52,000  inhabitants,  on  a  space  thirteen 
leagues  in  length  and  two  in  breadth :  making  2000 
to  a  square  league,  which  is  almost  equal  to  the 
densest  population  of  France.  The  houses  were  all 
of  masonry,  and  every  court  contained  cocoa-trees, 
rising  above  the  habitations  ;  besides  wheat,  sugar, 
cacao,  cotton,  and  coffee,  indigo  is  cultivated  to  a 
great  extent. 

In  this  district  the  travellers  experienced  the 
greatest  kindness,  more  especially  from  the  persons 
with  whom  they  had  associated  in  Caraccas,  and 
who  possessed  large  estates  in  these  highly-improved 
and  beautiful  plains.  At  the  Hacienda  de  Cura  they 
spent  seven  very  agreeable  days  in  a  small  habita- 
tion surrounded  by  thickets,  on  the  Lake  of  Valen- 
cia. Their  host,  Count  Tovar,  had  begun  to  let  out 
lands  to  poor  persons,  with  the  view  of  rendering 
slaves  less  necessary  to  the  landholders ;  and  his 
example  was  happily  followed  by  other  proprietors. 
Here  they  lived  after  the  manner  of  the  rich ;  they 
bathed  twice,  slept  three  times,  and  made  three 
meals  in  twenty-four  hours. 

The  valleys  of  Aragua  form  a  narrow  basin  be- 


148  VALLEYS    OF  ARAGUA. 

tween  granitic  and  calcareous  mountains  of  unequal 
height.  On  the  north  they  are  separated  from  the 
coast  by  the  Sierra  Mariara,  and  on  the  south  from 
the  steppes  by  the  chain  of  Guacimo  and  Yusma. 
On  the  east  and  west  they  are  bounded  by  hills  of 
smaller  elevation,  the  rivers  from  which  unite  their 
streams,  and  are  collected  in  an  inland  lake  which 
has  no  communication  with  the  sea.  This  body  of 
water,  named  the  Lake  of  Valencia,  and  by  the  In- 
dians called  Tacarigua,  is  larger  than  the  Lake  of 
Neufchatel,  but  in  its  general  form  has  more  resem- 
blance to  that  of  Geneva.  The  southern  banks  are 
desert,  and  backed  by  a  screen  of  high  mountains, 
while  the  northern  shores  are  decked  with  the  rich 
cultivation  of  the  sugar-cane,  coffee-tree,  and  cot- 
ton. "  Paths  bordered  with  cestrum,  azedarach,  and 
other  shrubs  always  in  flower,  traverse  the  plain 
and  join  the  scattered  farms.  Every  house  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  tuft  of  trees.  The  ceiba,  with  large 
yellow  flowers,  gives  a  peculiar  character  to  the 
landscape,  as  it  unites  its  branches  with  those  of 
the  purple  erythrina.  The  mixture  and  brilliancy 
of  the  vegetable  colours  form  a  contrast  to  the  un- 
varied tint  of  a  cloudless  sky.  In  the  dry  season, 
when  the  burning  soil  is  covered  with  a  wavy  vapour, 
artificial  irrigations  keep  up  its  verdure  and  fecundity. 
Here  and  there  the  granitic  rocks  pierce  the  culti- 
vated land,  and  enormous  masses  rise  abruptly  in 
the  midst  of  the  plain,  their  bare  and  fissured  sur- 
faces affording  nourishment  to  some  succulent 
plants,  which  prepare  a  soil  for  future  ages.  Often 
on  the  summit  of  these  detached  hills,  a  fig-tree  or 
a  clusia,  with  juicy  leaves,  have  fixed  their  roots  in 
the  rock,  and  overlook  the  landscape.  With  their 
dead  and  withered  branches  they  seem  like  signals 
erected  on  a  steep  hill.  The  form  of  these  emi- 
nences reveals  the  secret  of  their  origin ;  for  when 
the  whole  of  this  valley  was  filled  with  water,  and 
the  waves  beat  against  the  base  of  the  peaks  of 


LAKE    OF   VALENCIA.  149 

Mariara,  the  Devil's  Wall,  and  the  coast  chain,  these 
rocky  hills  were  shoals  or  islets." 

But  the  Lake  of  Valencia  is  remarkable  for  other 
circumstances  than  its  beauties.  From  a  careful  ex- 
amination, Humboldt  was  convinced  that  in  very  re- 
mote times,  the  whole  valley,  from  the  mountains 
of  Cocuyza  to  those  of  Torito  and  Nirgua,  and  from 
the  Sierra  of  Mariara  to  that  of  Guigue,  Guacimo, 
and  La  Palma,  had  been  filled  with  water.  The 
form  of  the  promontories  and  their  abrupt  slopes  in- 
dicate the  shores  of  an  alpine  lake.  The  same  little 
shells  (helicites  and  valvatae)  whicli  occur  at  the 
present  day  in  the  Lake  of  Valencia  are  found  in 
layers  three  or  four  feet  thick  in  the  heart  of  the 
country,  as  far  as  Turmero  and  La  Concesion,  near 
Victoria.  These  facts  prove  a  retreat  of  the  waters  ; 
but  no  evidence  exists  that  any  considerable  diminu- 
tion of  them  has  taken  place  in  recent  times,  al- 
though within  the  thirty  years  preceding  Humboldt's 
visit  the  gradual  desiccation  of  this  great  basin  had 
excited  general  attention.  This,  however,  is  not  de- 
pendent upon  subterranean  channels,  as  some  sup- 
pose, but  upon  the  effects  of  evaporation,  increased 
by  the  changes  operated  upon  the  surface  of  the 
country.  Forests,  by  sheltering  the  soil  from  the 
direct  action  of  the  sun,  diminish  the  waste  of  moist- 
ure ;  consequently,  when  they  are  imprudently  de- 
stroyed, the  springs  become  less  abundant,  or  are 
*  entirely  dried  up.  Till  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury the  mountains  that  surround  the  valleys  of 
Aragua  were  covered  with  woods,  and  the  plains  with 
thickets,  interspersed  with  large  trees.  As  cultiva- 
tion increased,  the  sylvan  vegetation  suffered  ;  and 
as  the  evaporation  in  this  district  is  excessively  pow- 
erful, the  little  rivers  were  dried  up  in  the  lower 
portion  of  their  course  during  a  great  part  of  the 
year.  The  land  that  surrounds  the  lake  being  quite 
flat  and  even,  the  decrease  of  a  few  inches  in  the 
level  of  the  water  exposed  a  vast  extent  of  ground, 


150  LAKE    OF   VALENCIA. 

and  as  it  retired  the  planters  took  possession  of  the 
new  land. 

The  idea  that  the  lake  will  soon  entirely  disappear 
Humboldt  treats  as  chimerical,  considering  it  proba- 
ble that  a  period  will  shortly  arrive  when  the  supply 
of  waters  by  the  rivers  and  the  evaporation  will 
balance  each  other.  The  mean  depth  is  from  77  to 
96  feet,  and  there  are  some  parts  not  less  than  224 
or  256  feet.  The  length  is  thirty-four  and  a  half 
miles,  and  the  breadth  four  or  five.  The  tempera- 
ture at  the  surface,  in  February,  was  from  73*4°  to 
74 '7°,  which  was  a  little  lower  than  the  mean  tem- 
perature of  the  air. 

The  Lake  of  Valencia  is  covered  with  beautiful 
islands  to  the  number  of  fifteen,  some  of  which  are 
cultivated.  It  is  well  stocked  with  fish,  although  it 
furnishes  only  three  kinds,  which  are  soft  and  in- 
sipid. A  small  crocodile,  the  bava,  which  generally 
attains  the  length  of  three  or  four  feet,  is  very  com- 
mon ;  but  it  is  remarkable  that  neither  the  lake  nor 
any  of  the  rivers  which  flow  into  it  have  any  large 
alligators,  though  these  animals  abound  a  few 
leagues  off,  in  the  streams  that  unite  with  the  Apure 
and  Orinoco,  or  pass  directly  into  the  Caribbean 
Sea,  The  islands  are  of  gneiss,  like  the  surround- 
ing country.  Of  the  plants  which  they  produce, 
many  have  been  believed  to  be  peculiar  to  the  dis- 
trict, such  as  the  papaws  of  the  lake,  and  the  toma- 
toes of  the  island  of  Cura.  The  aquatic  vegeta- 
tion along  the  shores  reminded  the  travellers  of  the 
lakes  of  Europe,  although  the  species  of  potamoge- 
ton,  chara,  and  equisetum  were  peculiar  to  the  New 
Continent. 

Some  of  the  rivers  that  flow  into  this  fine  sheet 
of  water  owe  their  origin  to  hot  springs,  of  which, 
however,  the  travellers  were  able  to  examine  only 
those  of  Mariara  and  Las  Trincheras.  In  going  up 
the  Cura  towards  its  source,  the  mountains  of  Ma- 
riara are  seen  advancing  into  the  plain,  in  the  form 


HOT  SPRINGS  OF  MARIARA.        151 

of  an  amphitheatre  composed  of  steep  rocks,  crowned 
by  serrated  peaks.  The  central  point  is  named  Rin- 
con  del  Diablo.  These  masses  are  composed  of  a 
coarse-grained  granite,  and  are  partially  covered 
with  vegetation.  In  the  hills  towards  the  east  of 
the  Rincon  is  a  ravine  containing  several  small 
basins,  the  two  uppermost  of  which  are  only  eight 
inches  in  diameter,  while  the  three  lower  are  from 
two  to  three  feet.  Their  depth  varies  from  three  to 
fifteen  inches,  and  their  temperature  is  from  133°  to 
138°.  The  hot  water  from  these  funnels  forms  a 
rill,  which  thirty  feet  lower  has  a  temperature  of 
only  118'4°.  These  springs  are  sjightly  impreg- 
nated with  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas,  the  fluid  hav- 
ing a  thin  pellicle  of  sulphur ;  while  a  few  plants  in 
the  vicinity  are  crusted  with  the  same  substance. 
To  the  south  of  this  ravine,  in  the  plain  extending 
to  the  shores  of  the  lake,  is  another  fountain  of  the 
same  kind,  which  issues  from  a  crevice.  The  water, 
which  is  not  so  hot,  collects  in  a  basin  fifteen  or 
eighteen  feet  in  diameter  and  three  feet  deep,  in 
which  the  slaves  of  the  neighbouring  plantations 
wash  at  the  end  of  the  day.  Here  the  travellers  also 
bathed,  and  afterward  found  in  the  surrounding 
woods  a  great  variety  of  beautiful  plants. 

While  drying  themselves  in  the  sun,  after  coming 
out  of  the  pool,  a  little  mulatto  approached  them, 
bowing  gravely,  and  making  a  long  speech  on  the 
virtues  of  the  water.  Showing  them  his  hut,  he  as- 
sured them  they  should  find  in  it  all  the  conveniences 
of  life  ;  but  his  attentions  ceased  the  moment  he 
heard  they  had  come  merely  to  satisfy  their  curios- 
ity, and  had  no  intention  to  try  the  efficacy  of  the 
baths.  They  are  said  to  be  used  with  success  in 
rheumatic  swellings,  old  ulcers,  and  the  dreadful 
affections  of -the  skin  called  bubas. 

On  the  21st  February,  the  travellers  set  out  from 
the  Hacienda  de  Cura  for  Guacara  and  New- Valen- 
cia. As  the  heat  was  excessive  they  preferred 


152  NEW- VALENCIA. 

travelling  by  night.  Near  the  hamlet  of  Punta  Za- 
muro,  at  the  foot  of  the  lofty  mountains  of  Las 
Viruelas,  the  road  was  bordered  by  large  mimosas, 
sixty  feet  in  height,  and  with  horizontal  branches 
meeting  at  a  distance  of  more  than  fifty  yards,  so  as 
to  form  a  most  beautiful  canopy  of  verdure.  The 
night  was  gloomy,  and  the  Rincon  del  Diablo  with 
its  serrated  cliffs  appeared  from  time  to  time  illu- 
minated by  the  burning  of  the  savannas.  At  a  place 
where  the  wood  was  thickest  their  horses  were 
frightened  by  the  yelling  of  a  large  jaguar,  which 
seemed  to  follow  them  closely,  and  which  they  were 
informed  had  roamed  among  these  mountains  for 
three  years,  having  escaped  the  pursuit  of  the  most 
intrepid  hunters. 

They  spent  the  22d  in  the  house  of  the  Marquis  de 
Foro,  at  the  village  of  Guacara,  a  large  Indian  com- 
munity ;  and  on  the  23d,  after  visiting  Mocundo,  an 
extensive  sugar-plantation  near  it,  they  continued 
their  journey  to  New-Valencia.  They  passed  a 
little  wood  of  palms,  of  the  genus  Corypha^  the 
withered  foliage  of  which,  together  with  the  camels 
feeding  in  the  plain,  and  the  undulating  motion  of 
the  vapours  on  the  arid  soil,  gave  the  landscape  quite 
an  African  character.  The  sterility  of  the  land  in- 
creased as  they  advanced  towards  the  city,  which 
is  said  to  have  been  founded  in  1555,  by  Alonzo 
Diaz  Moreno,  and  contains  a  population  of  six  or 
seven  thousand  individuals.  The  streets  are  broad ; 
and  as  the  houses  are  low,  they  occupied  a  large  ex- 
tent of  ground.  Here  the  termites,  or  white  ants, 
were  so  numerous,  that  their  excavations  resembled 
subterranean  canals,  which,  being  filled  with  water 
in  rainy  weather,  became  extremely  dangerous  to 
the  buildings. 

On  the  26th  they  set  out  for  the  farm  of  Barbula, 
to  examine  anew  road  that  was  making  from  the 
city  to  Porto  Cabello ;  and  on  the  27th  visited  the 
hot  springs  of  La  Trinchera,  three  leagues  from  Va- 


HOT   SPRINGS   OF   IA   TRINCHERA.  153 

lencia.  These  fountains  were  so  copious  as  to  form 
a  rivulet,  which,  during  the  greatest  droughts,  was 
two  feet  deep  and  eighteen  wide.  The  temperature 
of  the  water  was  194'5°.  Eggs  immersed  in  them 
were  boiled  in  less  than  four  minutes.  They  issued 
from  granite,  and  were  strongly  impregnated  with 
sulphuretted  hydrogen.  A  sediment  of  carbonate 
of  lime  was  deposited,  and  the  most  luxuriant  vege- 
tation surrounded  the  basin, — mimosas,  clusias,  and 
fig-trees,  pushing  their  roots  into  the  water,  and  ex- 
tending their  branches  over  it.  Forty  feet  distant 
from  these  remarkable  sources  there  arose  others 
which  were  of  the  ordinary  temperature.  Hum- 
boldt  remarks,  that  in  all  climates  people  show  the 
same  predilection  for  heat.  In  Iceland  the  first 
Christian  converts  would  be  baptized  only  in  the 
tepid  streams  of  Hecla ;  and  in  the  torrid  zone,  the 
natives  flock  from  all  parts  to  the  thermal  waters. 
The  river  which  is  formed  by  the  fountains  of  La 
Trinchera  runs  towards  the  north-east,  and  near  the 
coast  expands  to  a  considerable  size. 

Descending  towards  Porto  Cabello,  the  travellers 
passed  through  a  very  picturesque  district,  beauti- 
fied by  a  most  luxuriant  vegetation  and  numerous 
cascades.  A  stratified  coarse-grained  granite  oc- 
curred near  the  road.  The  heat  became  suffocating 
as  they  approached  the  coast,  and  a  reddish  vapour 
veiled  the  horizon.  In  the  evening  they  reached  the 
town,  where  they  were  kindly  received  by:  a  French 
physician,  M.  Juliac,  whose  house  contained  an  in- 
teresting collection  of  zoological  subjects.  This 
gentleman  was  principal  surgeon  to  the  royal  hospi- 
tal, and  was  celebrated  for  his  profound  acquaintance 
with  the  yellow  fever.  He  stated,  that  when  he  had 
treated  his  patients  by  bleeding,  aperients,  and  acid 
drinks,  in  hospitals  where  the  sick  were  crowded, 
the  mortality  was  33  in  100  among  the  white  Creoles, 
and  65  in  100  among  recently-disembarked  Eu- 
ropeans ;  but  that  since  a  stimulating  treatment,  and 


154  PORTO    CABELLO. 

the  use  of  opium,  benzoin,  and  alcoholic  draughts 
had  been  substituted  for  the  old  debilitating  method, 
the  mortality  had  been  reduced  to  20  in  100  among 
Europeans,  and  10  among  natives. 

The  heat  of  Porto  Cabello  is  not  so  intense  as  that 
of  La  Guayra,  the  breeze  being  stronger  and  more 
regular,  and  the  air  having  more  room  to  circulate 
between  the  coast  and  the  mountains.  The  cause 
of  the  insalubrity  o  f  the  atmosphere  is  therefore  to 
be  sought  for  in  the  exhalations  that  arise  from  the 
shore  to  the  eastward,  where  at  the  beginning  of  the 
rainy  season  tertian  fevers  prevail,  which  easily  de- 
generate into  the  continued  typhoid.  It  has  been 
observed  that  the  mestizoes  employed  in  the  salt- 
works have  a  yellower  skin  when  they  have  suffered 
several  years  from  these  fevers.  The  fishermen 
assert,  that  the  unwholesomeness  of  the  air  is  owing 
to  the  overflowings  of  the  rivers  and  not  to  inunda- 
tions of  the  sea,  and  it  has  been  found  that  the 
extended  cultivation  along  the^  banks  of  the  Rio  Es- 
tevan  has  rendered  them  less  pestilential. 

The  salt-works  are  similar  to  those  of  Araya, 
near  Cumana,  but  the  earth  at  Porto  Cabello  con- 
tains less  muriate  of  soda.  As  the  employment  is 
very  unhealthy,  the  poorest  persons  alone  engage  in 
it.  The  defence  of  the  coasts  of  Terra  Firma  was 
maintained  at  six  points,  the  castle  of  San  Antonio 
at  Cumana,  the  fortifications  of  La  Guayra,  Porto 
Cabello,  Fort  St.  Charles,  and  Carthagena.  Next 
to  Carthagena  the  most  important  place  is  Porto 
Cabello.  The  harbour  is  one  of  the  finest  in  the 
world,  resembling  a  basin  or  little  inland  lake,  open- 
ing to  the  westward  by  a  passage  so  narrow  that 
only  one  vessel  can  anchor  at  a  time,  and  is  defended 
by  batteries.  The  upper  part  of  it  is  marshy  ground 
filled  with  stagnant  and  putrid  water.  At  the  time 
of  Humboldt's  visit  the  number  of  inhabitants  was 
9000. 

Leaving  Porto  Cabello  on  the  1st  March  at  sun- 


COW-TREE.  155 

rise,  our  travellers  were  astonished  at  the  number  of 
boats  which  they  saw  laden  with  fruit  for  the  mar- 
ket. They  returned  to  the  valleys  of  Aragua,  and 
again  stopped  at  the  farm  of  Barbula.  Having 
heard  of  a  tree,  the  juice  of  which  resembles  milk, 
and  is  used  as  an  article  of  food,  they  visited  it,  and 
to  their  surprise  found  that  the  statements  which 
had  been  made  to  them  with  respect  to  it  were  cor- 
rect. It  is  named  the  polo  de  vaca  or  cow-tree,  and 
has  oblong  pointed  leaves,  with  a  somewhat  fleshy 
fruit  containing  one  or  sometimes  two  nuts.  When 
an  incision  is  made  in  the  trunk,  there  issues  abun- 
dantly a  thick  glutinous  milky  fluid,  perfectly  fr$e 
from  acrimony,  and  having  an  agreeable  smell.  It 
is  drunk  by  the  negroes  and  free  people  who  work 
in  the  plantations,  and  the  travellers  took  a  consid- 
erable quantity  of  it  without  the  least  injurious 
effect.  When  exposed  to  the  air,  this  juice  presents 
on  its  surface  a  yellowish  cheesy  substance,  in  mem- 
branous layers,  which  are  elastic,  and  in  five  or  six 
days  become  sour,  and  afterward  putrefy. 

The  cow-tree  appears  to  be  peculiar  to  the  littoral 
cordillera,  and  occurs  most  plentifully  between  Bar- 
bula and  the  Lake  of  Maracaybo. 

"Among  the  many  curious  phenomena,"  says 
Hurnboldt,  "  which  presented  themselves  to  me  in 
the  course  of  my  travels,  I  confess  there  were  few 
by  which  my  imagination  was  so  powerfully  affected 
as  the  cow-tree.  All  that  relates  to  milk  and  to  the 
cereal  plants  inspires  us  with  an  interest,  which  is 
not  merely  that  of  the  physical  knowledge  of  things, 
but  which  connects  itself  with  another  order  of  ideas 
and  feelings.  We  can  hardly  imagine  how  the  hu- 
man species  could  exist  without  farinaceous  sub- 
stances, and  without  the  nutritious  fluid  which  the 
breast  of  the  mother  contains,  and  which  is  appro- 
priated to  the  condition  of  the  feeble  infant.  The 
amylaceous  matter  of  the  cereal  plants, — the  object 
of  religious  veneration  among  so  many  ancient  and 


156  COW-TREE. 

modern  nations, — is  distributed  in  the  seeds,  and  de- 
posited in  the  roots  of  vegetables ;  while  the  milk 
which  we  use  as  food  appears  exclusively  the  pro- 
duct of  animal  organization.  Such  are  the  impres- 
sions which  we  receive  in  early  childhood,  and  such 
is  the  source  of  the  astonishment  with  which  we 
are  seized  on  first  seeing  the  cow-tree.  Magnificent 
forests,  majestic  rivers,  and  lofty  mountains  clad  in 
perennial  snows,  are  not  the  objects  which  we  here 
admire.  A  few  drops  of  a  vegetable  fluid  impress 
us  with  an  idea  of  the  power  and  fecundity  of  na- 
ture. On  the  parched  side  of  a  rock  grows  a  tree 
with  dry  and  leathery  foliage,  its  large  woody  roots 
scarcely  penetrating  into  the  ground.  For  several 
months  in  the  year  its  leaves  are  not  moistened  by  a 
shower ;  its  branches  look  as  if  they  were  dead  and 
withered  ;  but  when  the  trunk  is  bored,  a  bland  and 
nourishing  milk  flows  from  it.  It  is  at  sunrise  that 
the  vegetable  fountain  flows  most  freely.  At  that 
time  the  blacks  and  natives  are  seen  coming  from 
all  parts,  provided  with  large  bowls  to  receive  the 
milk,  which  grows  yellow  and  thickens  at  its  sur- 
face. Some  empty  their  vessels  on  the  spot,  while 
others  carry  them  to  their  children.  One  imagines 
he  sees  the  family  of  a  shepherd  who  is  distributing 
the  milk  of  his  flock." 

The  travellers  had  resolved  to  visit  the  eastern 
extremity  of  the  cordilleras  of  New-Grenada,  where 
they  end  in  the  Paramos  of  Tirnotes  and  Niquitas ; 
but  learning  at  Barbula  that  this  excursion  would 
retard  their  arrival  at  the  Orinoco  thirty -five  days, 
they  judged  it  prudent  to  relinquish  it,  lest  they 
should  fail  in  the  real  object  of  their  journey,  that 
of  ascertaining  by  astronomical  observations  the 
point  at  which  the  Rio  Negro  and  the  River  of  Ama- 
zons communicate  with  the  former  stream.  They 
therefore  returned  to  Guacara,  to  take  leave  of  the 
family  of  the  Marquis  del  Toro,  and  pass  three  days 
more  on  the  shores  of  the  Lake  of  Valencia.  It 


PLANTATIONS   OF   CACAO.  157 

happened  to  be  the  time  of  carnival,  and  all  was 
gayety.  The  games  in  which  the  common  people 
indulged  were  occasionally  not  of  the  most  pleasant 
kind.  Some  led  about  an  ass  laden  with  water,  with 
which  they  sprinkled  the  apartments  wherever  they 
found  an  open  winaow ;  -while  others,  carrying  bags 
full  of  the  hairs  of  the  Dolichos  pruriens,  which  ex- 
cite great  irritation  of  the  skin,  blew  them  into  the 
faces  of  those  who  were  passing  by.  From  Gua- 
cara  they  returned  to  New-Valencia,  where  they 
found  a  few  French  emigrants,  the  only  ones  they 
saw  during  five  years  in  the  Spanish  colonies. 

The  cacao-plantations  have  always  been  consid- 
ered as  the  principal  source  of  the  prosperity  of 
these  countries.  The  tree  ( Theolroma  cacao)  which 
produces  this  substance  is  not  now  found  wild  in  the 
woods  to  the  north  of  the  Orinoco,  and  begins  to  be 
seen  only  beyond  the  cataracts  of  Atures  and  May- 
pures ;  but  it  abounds  near  the  Ventuaro,  and  on  the 
Upper  Orinoco.  In  the  plantations  it  vegetates  so 
vigorously,  that  flowers  spring  out  even  from  the 
woody  roots  wherever  they  are  left  uncovered.  It 
suffers  from  the  north-east  winds ;  and  the  heavy 
showers  that  fall  during  the  winter  season,  from  De- 
cember to  March,  are  very  injurious  to  it.  Great 
humidity  is  favourable  only  when  it  augments  grad- 
ually, and  continues  a  long  time  without  interrup- 
tion. In  the  dry  season,  when  the  leaves  and  young 
fruit  are  wetted  by  a  heavy  shower,  the  latter  falls 
to  the  ground.  For  these  reasons  the  cacao-har- 
vest is  very  uncertain,  and  the  causes  of  failure  are 
increased  by  the  depredations  of  worms,  insects, 
birds,  and  quadrupeds.  This  branch  of  agriculture 
has  the  disadvantage,  moreover,  of  obliging  the  new 
planter  to  wait  eight  or  ten  years  for  the  fruits  of 
his  labours,  and  of  yielding  an  article  of  very  diffi- 
cult preservation ;  but  it  requires  a  much  less  num- 
ber of  slaves  than  most  others,  one  being  sufficient 
for  a  thousand  trees,  which  at  an  average  yield 
O 


158  CONSUMPTION    OF    CACAO. 

twelve  fanegas  annually.  It  appeared  probable,  that 
from  1800  to  1806  the  yearly  produce  of  the  cacao- 
plantations  of  the  capitania-general  of  Caraccas  was 
at  least  193,000  fanegas,  or  299,200  bushels,  of  which 
the  province  of  Caraccas  furnished  three-fourths. 
The  crops  are  gathered  twice  a  year,  at  the  end  of 
June  and  of  December. 

Humboldt  states,  as  the  result  of  numerous  local 
estimates,  that  Europe  consumes, — 

23,000,000  pounds  of  cacao,  at  12  fr.  per  cwt.=  27,600,000  fr. 

32,000,000  pounds  of  tea,  at  4  fr.  per  Ib =128,000,000 

140,000,000  pounds  of  coffee,  at  1 14  fr.  per  cwt.= 159,000.000 
450,000,000  pounds  of  sugar,  at  54  fr.  per  cwt.=243,000,000 

Total  value,  23,250,0002.  sterling,  or  558,000,000  fr. 

The  late  wars  have  had  a  very  injurious  effect  on 
the  cacao-trade  of  Caraccas ;  and  the  cultivation  of 
this  article  seems  to  be  gradually  declining.  It  is  as- 
serted that  the  new  plantations  are  not  so  productive 
as  the  old,  the  trees  not  acquiring  the  same  vigour, 
and  the  harvest  being  later  and  less  abundant.  This 
is  supposed  to  be  owing  to  exhaustion  of  the  land ; 
but  Humboldt  attributes  it  rather  to  the  diminution 
of  moisture  caused  by  cropping.* 

Tn  concluding  his  remarks  on  the  province  of  Vene- 
zuela, our  author  gives  a  general  view  of  the  soil 
and  metallic  productions  of  the  districts  of  Aroa, 
Barquesimeto,  and  Carora.  From  the  Sierra  Nevada 
of  Merida,  and  the  Paramos  of  Niquitao,  Bocono, 
and  Las  Rosas,  the  eastern  cordillera  of  New-Gre- 
nada decreases  so  rapidly  in  height,  that  between 
the  ninth  and  tenth  degrees  of  latitude  it  forms  only 

*  According  to  Maccullocti,  the  little  use  made  of  this  excellent  beve- 
rage in  England  may  be  ascribed  to  the  oppressiveness  of  the  duties 
with  which  it  has  been  loaded,  and  not  to  its  being  unsuitable  to  the 
public  taste.  "At  this  moment  (May,  1831),"  he  says,  "  Trinidad  and 
Grenada  cacao  is  worth  in  bond,  in  the  London  market,  from  24s,  to  65s. 
a  cwt. ;  while  the  duty  is  no  less  than  65s.,  being  nearly  JOO  per  cent, 
upon  the  finer  qualities,  and  no  less  than  230  per  cent,  upon  those  that 
are  inferior  ':" — MaccuUoch's  Dictionary  of  Commerce,  art.  Cacao. 


GEOLOGY    OF    THE    DISTRICT.  159 

a  chain  of  hills,  which  separates  the  rivers  that  join 
the  Apure  and  the  Orinoco  from  those  that  flow 
into  the  Caribbean  Sea  or  the  Lake  of  Valencia. 
On  this  ridge  are  built  the  towns  of  Nirgua,  San 
Felipe,  Barquesimeto,  and  Tocuyo.  The  ground 
rises  towards  the  south. 

In  the  cordillera  just  described,  the  strata  usually 
dip  to  the  N. W ;  so  that  the  waters  flow  in  that  di- 
rection over  the  ledges,  forming  those  numerous 
torrents  and  rivers,  the  inundations  caused  by  which 
are  so  fatal  to  the  health  of  the  inhabitants  from 
Cape  Codera  to  the  Lake  of  Maraycabo. 

Of  the  streams  that  descend  N.E.  towards  the 
coast  of  Porto  Cabello  and  La  Puenta  de  Hicacos, 
the  most  remarkable  are  the  Tocuyo,  Aroa,  and  Ta- 
racuy ;  the  valleys  of  whicl?  ^vere  it  not  for  morbid 
miasmata,  would  perhaps  be  more  populous  than 
those  of  Aragua,  as  the  soil  is  prolific  and  the  wa- 
ters' navigable.  In  a  lateral  valley,  opening  into  that 
of  the  Aroa,  are  copper-mines ;  and  in  the  ravines 
nearer  the  sea  are  similar  ores  and  gold- washings. 
The  total  produce  of  both  amounts  to  a  quantity 
varying  from  1087  to  1358  cwts.  of  excellent  metal. 
Indications  of  silver  and  gold  have  been  found  in 
various  parts. 

The  savannas  or  llanos  of  Monai  and  Carora, 
separated  from  the  great  plains  of  Portuguesa  and 
Calabozo  by  the  mountainous  tract  of  Tocuyo  and 
Migua,  although  bare  and  arid,  are  oppressed  with 
miasmata ;  and  Humboldt  seems  to  think  that  their 
insalubrity  may  be  owing  to  the  disengagement  of 
sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas. 


160  URSINE,    OR   HOWLING    MONKEYS. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Journey  across  the  Llanos,  from  Aragua  to  San 
Fernando. 

Mountains  between  the  Valleys  of  Aragua  and  the  Llanos — Their  Geologi- 
cal Constitution— The  Llanos  of  Caraccas — Route  over  the  Savanna 
to  the  Rio  Apure— Cattle  and  Deer— Vegetation— Calabozo— Gymnoti 
or  Electric  Eels— Indian  Girl— Alligators  and  Boas— Arrival  at  San 
Fernando  de  Apure. 

FROM  the  chain  of  mountains  which  borders  the 
Lake  of  Valencia  towards  the  south,  there  stretches 
in  the  same  direction  a  vast  extent  of  level  land, 
constituting  the  llanos  or  savannas  of  Caraccas ; 
and  from  the  cultivated  and  populous  district  of 
Aragua,  embellished  with  mountains  and  rivers, 
and  teeming  with  vegetation,  one  descends  into  a 
parched  desolate  plain,  bounded  by  the  horizon.  On 
this  route  we  now  accompany  our  travellers,  who 
on  the  6th  March  left  the  valleys  of  Aragua,  and 
keeping  along  the  south-west  side  of  the  lake,  passed 
over  a  rich  champaign  country  covered  with  cala- 
bashes, watermelons,  and  plantains.  The  rising  of 
the  sun  was  announced  by  the  howling  of  monkeys, 
of  which  they  saw  numerous  bands  moving  as  in 
procession  from  one  tree  to  another.  These  crea- 
tures (the  Simia  ursina)  execute  their  evolutions  with 
singular  uniformity.  When  the  boughs  of  two  trees 
do  not  touch  each  other,  the  leader  of  the  party 
swings  himself  by  the  tail  upon  the  nearest  twigs, 
the  rest  following  in  regular  succession.  The  dis- 
tance to  which  their  howlings  may  be  heard  was 
ascertained  by  Humbotdt  to  be  1705  yards.  The  In- 
dians assert  that  one  always  chants  as  leader  of  the 
choir ;  and  the  missionaries  say  that  when  a  female 


MOUNTAINS    OF   ARAGUA.  161 

is  on  the  point  of  bringing  forth,  the  howlings  are 
suspended  till  the  moment  when  the  young  appears. 

The  travellers  passed  the  night  at  the  village  of 
Guigue,  near  the  lake,  where  they  lodged  with  an 
old  sergeant,  a  native  of  Murcia,  who  amused  them 
with  a  recital  of  the  history  of  the  world  in  Latin, 
which  he  had  learned  among  the  Jesuits.  Leaving 
this  place,  they  began  to  ascend  the  chain  of  moun- 
tains which  extends  towards  La  Palma,  and  from 
the  top  of  an  elevated  platform  took  their  last  view 
of  the  valleys  of  Aragua.  The  rock  was  gneiss  with 
auriferous  veins  of  quartz.  Arriving  at  the  hamlet 
of  Maria  Magdalena,  they  were  stopped  by  the  in- 
habitants, who  wanted  to  force  their  muleteers  to 
hear  mass.  Seven  miles  farther  on  they  came  to 
the  Villa  de  Cura,  situated  in  an  arid  valley  almost 
destitute  of  vegetation.  Here  they  remained  for 
the  night,  and  joined  an  assembly  of  nearly  all  the 
residents  in  the  town  to  admire  in  a  magic-lantern 
a  view  of  the  great  capitals  of  Europe.  This  place, 
which  contains  a  population  of  four  thousand,  is 
celebrated  for  the  miracles  performed  by  an  image 
of  the  Virgin  found  by  an  Indian  in  a  ravine. 

Continuing  to  descend  the  southern  declivity  of 
the  range,  they  passed  part  of  the  night  of  the  llth 
at  the  village  of  San  Juan,  remarkable  for  its  hot 
springs  and  the  singular  form  of  two  mountains  in 
the  neighbourhood,  called  the  Morros,  which  rise 
like  slender  peaks  from  a  wall  of  rocks.  At  two  in 
the  morning  they  continued  their  journey  by  Ortiz 
and  Parapara  to  the  Mesa  de  Paja.  The  ground  over 
which  they  travelled  forms  the  ancient  shore  of  the 
llanos  ;  and  as  the  chain  has  now  been  traversed,  it 
may  be  interesting  to  present  a  brief  view  of  its  geo- 
logical constitution. 

In  the  Sierra  de  Mariara,  near  Caraccas,  the  rock 

is  coarse-grained  granite.     The  valleys  of  Aragua, 

the  shores  of  the  Lake  of  Valencia,  its  islands,  and 

the  southern  branch  of  the  coast  chain,  are  of  gneiss 

02 


163  ENTRANCE    OF    THE    LLANOS. 

and  mica-slate,  which  are  auriferous.  At  San  Juan 
some  of  the  rocks  were  gneiss  passing  into  mica- 
slate.  ,  On  the  south  of  this  place  the  gneiss  is  con- 
cealed beneath  a  deposit  of  serpentine,  which,  far- 
ther south,  passes  into  or  alternates  with  green- 
stone. This  rock  is  now  the  principal  one,  and  in 
the  midst  of  it  rise  the  Morros  of  San  Juan,  com- 
posed of  crystalline  limestone  of  a  greenish-gray 
colour,  and  containing  masses  of  dark-blue  indurated 
clay.  Behind  the  Morros  is  another  compact  lime- 
stone containing  shells.  The  valley  that  descends 
from  San  Juan  to  the  llanos  is  filled  with  trap-rocks 
lying  upon  green-slate.  Lower  down  the  rocks  take 
a  basaltic  aspect.  Farther  south  the  slates  disap- 
pear, being  concealed  under  a  trap-deposit  of  varied 
appearance,  but  assuming  an  amygdaloidal  charac- 
ter, and  on  the  margin  of  the  plain  is  seen  a  forma- 
tion of  clinkstone  or  porphyry- slate. 

The  travellers  now  entered  the  basin  of  the  llanos. 
The  sun  was  almost  in  the  zenith,  the  ground  was 
at  the  temperature  of  1 18°  or  122°,  and  the  suffo- 
cating heat  was  augmented  by  the  whirls  of  dust 
which  incessantly  arose  from  the  surface  of  the 
steril  soil.  All  around  the  plains  seemed  to  ascend 
into  the  sky.  The  horizon  in  some  parts  was  clear 
and  distinct,  while  in  others  it  seemed  undulating  or 
blended  with  the  atmosphere.  The  trunks  of  palm- 
trees,  stripped  of  their  foliage,  and  seen  from  afar 
through  the  haze,  resembled  the  masts  of  ships  dis- 
covered on  the  verge  of  the  ocean. 

In  order  to  give  some  interest  to  the  narrative  of 
a  journey  across  a  tract  of  so  monotonous  an  aspect^ 
Humboldt  presents  a  general  view  of  the  plains  of 
America,  contrasted  with  the  deserts  of  Africa,  and 
the  fertile  steppes  of  Asia ;  of  which,  however,  the 
most  striking  points  alone  can  be  here  taken.  There 
is  something  awful  and  melancholy,  he  says,  in  the 
uniform  aspect  of  these  savannas,  where  every  thingp 
seems  motionless,  and  where  the  shadow  of  a  cloud 


REMARKS    ON   DESERTS.  163 

hardly  ever  falls  for  months.  He  even  doubts  whe- 
ther the  first  sight  of  the  Andes  or  of  the  llanos  ex- 
cites most  astonishment ;  for  as  mountainous  coun- 
tries have  a  similarity  of  appearance,  whatever  may 
be  the  elevation  of  their  summits,  the  view  of  a  very 
elevated  range  is  perhaps  not  so  striking  as  that  of 
a  boundless  plain,  spread  out  like  an  ocean,  and  on 
all  sides  mixing  with  the  sky. 

It  has  been  said  that  Europe  has  its  heaths,  Asia 
its  steppes,  Africa  its  deserts,  and  America  its  savan- 
nas ;  and  these  great  divisions  of  the  globe  have  been 
characterized  by  these  circumstances.  But  as  the 
term  heath  always  supposes  the  existence  of  plants 
of  that  name,  and  as  all  the  plains  of  Europe  are  not 
heathy,  the  description  is  incorrect.  Nor  are  the 
steppes  of  Asia  always  covered  with  saline  plants, 
some  of  them  being  real  deserts ;  neither  are  the 
American  llanos  always  grassy.  Instead  of  desig- 
nating the  vast  levels  of  these  different  regions  by 
the  nature  of  the  plants  which  they  produce,  it  seems 
proper  to  distinguish  them  into  deserts  and  steppes, 
or  savannas,  by  which  terms  would  be  meant  plains 
destitute  of  vegetation,  or  covered  with  grasses  or 
small  dicotyledonous  plants.  The  savannas  of  North 
America  have  been  designated  by  the  name  of  prai- 
ries or  meadows  ;  but  the  phrase  is  not  very  applica- 
ble to  pastures  which  are  often  dry.  The  llanos 
and  pampas  of  South  America  are  real  steppes,  dis- 
playing a  beautiful  verdure  in  the  rainy  season,  but 
during  great  droughts  assuming  the  aspect  of  a  des- 
ert. The  grass  is  then  reduced  to  powder,  the 
ground  cracks,  and  the  alligators  and  serpents  bury 
themselves  in  the  mud,  where  they  remain  in  a  state 
of  lethargy  till  they  are  roused  by  the  showers  of 
spring.  On  the  borders  of  rivulets,  however,  and 
around  the  little  pools  of  stagnant  water,  thickets 
of  the  Mauritia  palm  preserve  a  brilliant  verdure,  even 
during  the  driest  part  of  the  year. 

The  principal  characteristic  of  the  savannas  of 


164  MOUNTAINS    OF    SOUTH    AMERICA. 

South  America  is  the  entire  want  of  hills.  In  a 
space  extending  to  387  square  miles,  there  is  not  a 
single  eminence  a  foot  high.  These  plains,  how- 
ever, present  two  kinds  of  inequalities  :  the  francos, 
consisting  of  broken  strata  of  sandstone  or  lime- 
stone, which  stand  four  or  five  feet  above  the  sur- 
face ;  and  the  mesas,  composed  of  small  flats  or  con- 
vex mounds,  rising  gradually  to  the  height  of  a  few 
yards.  The  uniform  aspect  of  these  flats,  the  ex- 
treme rarity  of  inhabitants,  the  fatigue  of  travelling 
under  a  burning  sky  amid  clouds  of  dust,  the  con- 
tinual recession  of  the  horizon,  and  the  successive 
appearance  of  solitary  palms,  make  the  steppes  ap- 

Eear  far  more  extensive  than  they  really  are.  It 
as  even  been  imagined  that  the  whole  eastern  side 
of  South  America,  from  the  Orinoco  and  the  Apure 
to  the  Plata  and  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  is  one  great 
level ;  but  this  is  not  the  case.  In  order  to  under- 
stand their  limitations  it  will  be  necessary  to  take  a 
general  view  of  the  mountain-ranges. 

The  cordillera  of  the  coast,  where  the  highest 
summit  is  the  Silla  of  Caraccas,  and  which  is  con- 
nected by  the  Paramo  de  las  Rosas  to  the  Nevado 
de  Merida,  and  the  Andes  of  New-Grenada,  has  al- 
ready been  described.  A  less  elevated  but  much 
larger  group  of  mountains  extends  from  the  mouths1 
of  the  Guaviare  and  the  Meta,  the  source  of  the  Ori- 
noco, the  Marony,and  the  Essequibo,  to  wards  French 
and  Dutch  Guiana.  This,  which  is  named  the  cor- 
dillera of  Parime,  may  be  followed  for  a  length  of 
863  miles,  and  is  separated  from  the  Andes  of  New- 
Grenada  by  a  space  of  276  miles  in  breadth.  A  third 
chain  of  mountains,  which  connects  the  Andes  of 
Peru  with  the  mountains  of  Brazil,  is  the  cordillera 
of  Chiguitos,  dividing  the  rivers  flowing  into  the 
Amazon  from  the  tributaries  of  the  Plata. 

These  three  transverse  chains  or  groups,  extend- 
ing from  west  to  east  within  the  limits  of  the  torrid 
zone,  are  separated  by  level  tracts  forming  the  plains 


MOUNTAINS    OF   SOUTH  AMERICA.  165 

of  Caraccas  or  of  the  Lower  Orinoco,  the  flats  of  the 
Amazon  and  Rio  Negro,  and  those  of  Buenos  Ayres 
or  La  Plata.  The  middle  basin,  known  by  the  colo- 
nists under  the  name  of  the  basques  or  selv as  of  the 
Amazon,  is  covered  with  trees;  the  southern,  the 
pampas  of  Buenos  Ayres,  with  grass  ;  and  the  north- 
ern, the  llanos  of  Varinas  and  Caraccas,  with  plants 
of  various  kinds. 

The  western  coasts  of  South  America  are  bordered 
by  a  wall  of  mountains,  pierced  at  intervals  by  vol- 
canic fires,  and  constituting  the  celebrated  cordillera 
of  the  Andes,  the  mean  height  of  which  is  11,830 
feet.  It  extends  in  the  direction  of  a  meridian,  send- 
ing out  two  lateral  branches,  one  in  lat.  10°  north, 
being  that  of  the  coast  of  Caraccas ;  the  other  in  lat. 
16°  and  18°  south,  forming  the  cordillera  of  Chiquitos, 
and  widening  eastward  in  Brazil  into  vast  table-lands. 
Between  these  lines  is  a  group  of  granitic  mountains, 
running  from  3°  to  7°  north  latitude,  in  a  direction 
parallel  to  the  equator,  but  not  united  to  the  Andes. 
These  three  chains  have  no  active  volcanoes,  and 
none  of  their  summits  enter  the  line  of  perpetual 
snow.  They  are  separated  by  plains,  which  are 
closed  towards  the  west  and  open  towards  the  east ; 
and  they  are  so  low  that  were  the  Atlantic  to  rise 
320  feet  at  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco,  and  1280  feet 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon,  more  than  the  half  of 
South  America  would  be  covered,  and  the  eastern 
declivity  of  the  Andes  would  become  a  shore  of  the 
ocean. 

We  now  accompany  the  travellers  on  their  route 
from  the  northern  side  of  the  llanos  to  the  banks 
of  the  Apure,  in  the  province  of  Varinas.  After 
passing  two  nights  on  horseback  they  arrived  at  a 
little  farm  called  El  Cayman,  where  was  a  house 
surrounded  by  some  small  huts  covered  with  reeds 
and  skins.  They  found  an  old  negro  who  had  the 
management  of  the  farm  during  his  master's  ab- 
sence. Although  he  told  them  of  herds  composed 


166  ALLIGATOR MIRAGE. 

of  several  thousand  cows,  they  asked  in  vain  foi 
milk,  and  were  obliged  to  content  themselves  with, 
some  muddy  and  fetid  water  drawn  from  a  neigh- 
bouring1 pool,  of  which  they  contrived  to  drink  by 
using  a  linen  cloth  as  a  filter.  When  the  mules 
were  unloaded,  they  were  set  at  liberty  to  go  and 
search  for  water,  and  the  strangers  following  them 
came  upon  a  copious  reservoir  surrounded  with  palm- 
trees.  Covered  with  dust  and  scorched  by  the  sandy 
wind  of  the  desert,  they  plunged  into  the  pool,  but 
had  scarcely  begun  to  enjoy  its  coolness  when  the 
noise  of  an  alligator  floundering  in  the  mud  induced 
them  to  make  a  precipitate  retreat.  Night  coming 
on,  they  wandered  about  in  search  of  the  farm  with- 
out succeeding  in  finding  it,  and  at  length  resolved 
to  seat  themselves  under  a  palm-tree,  in  a  dry  spot 
surrounded  by  short  grass,  when  an  Indian,  who  had 
been  on  his  round  collecting  the  cattle,  coming  up 
on  horseback,  was  persuaded,  though  not  without 
difficulty,  to  guide  them  to  the  house.  At  two  in 
the  morning  they  set  off,  with  the  view  of  reaching 
Calabozo  before  noon.  The  aspect  of  the  country 
continued  the  same.  There  was  no  moonlight,  but 
the  great  masses  of  nebulae  illumined  part  of  the  ter- 
restrial horizon  as  they  set  out.  As  the  sun  as- 
cended, the  phenomena  of  mirage  presented  them- 
selves in  all  their  modifications.  The  little  currents 
of  air  that  passed  along  the  ground  had  so  variable  a 
temperature,  that  in  a  herd  of  wild  cows  some  ap- 
peared with  their  legs  raised  from  the  surface,  while 
others  rested  upon  it.  The  objects  were  generally 
suspended,  but  no  inversion  was  observed.  At  sun- 
rise the  plains  assumed  a  more  animated  appearance ; 
the  horses,  mules,  and  oxen,  which  graze  on  them 
in  a  state  of  freedom,  after  having  reposed  during  the 
night  beneath  the  palms,  now  assembled  in  crowds. 
As  the  travellers  approached  Calabozo  they  saw 
troops  of  small  deer  feeding  in  the  midst  of  the 
cattle.  These  animals,  which  are  called  matacani, 


VEGETATION  OF  THE  LLANOS CALABOZO.   167 

are  a  little  larger  than  the  roe  of  Europe,  and  have 
a  sleek  fawn-coloured  pile,  spotted  with  white. 
Some  of  them  were  entirely  of  the  latter  hue. 
Their  flesh  is  good ;  and  their  number  is  so  great 
that  a  trade  in  their  skins  might  be  carried  on  with 
advantage ;  but  the  inhabitants  are  too  indolent  to 
engage  in  any  active  occupation. 

These  steppes  were  principally  covered  with 
grasses  of  the  genera  killingia,  cenchrus,  and  pas- 
palum,  which  at  that  season  scarcely  attain  a  height 
of  nine  or  ten  inches  near  Calabozo  and  St.  Jerome 
del  Pirital,  although  on  the  banks  of  the  Apure  and 
Portuguesa  they  rise  to  the  length  of  four  feet. 
Along  with  these  were  mingled  some  turnerae,  mal- 
vacae,  and  mimosas.  The  pastures  are  richest  on 
the  banks  of  the  rivers,  and  under  the  shade  of  cory- 
pha  palms.  These  trees  were  singularly  uniform  in 
size  ;  their  height  being  from  twenty-one  to  twenty- 
five  feet,  and  their  diameter  from  eight  to  ten  inches. 
The  wood  is  very  hard,  and  the  fan-like  leaves  are 
used  for  roofing  the  huts  scattered  over  the  plains. 
A  few  clumps  of  a  species  of  rhopala  occur  here  and 
there. 

The  philosophers  suffered  greatly  from  the  heat 
in  crossing  the  Mesa  de  Calabozo.  Whenever  the 
wind  blew  the  temperature  rose  to  104°  or  106°,  and 
the  air  was  loaded  with  dust.  The  guides  advised 
them  to  fill  their  hats  with  the  rhopala  leaves,  to 
prevent  the  action  of  the  solar  rays  on  the  head, 
and  from  this  expedient  they  derived  considerable 
benefit. 

At  Calabozo  they  experienced  the  most  cordial 
hospitality  from  the  administrator  of  the  Real  Ha- 
cienda, Don  Miguel  Cousin.  The  town,  which  is 
situated  between  the  Guarico  and  the  Urituco,  has 
a  population  of  5000.  The  principal  wealth  of  the 
inhabitants  consists  of  cattle,  of  which  it  was  com- 
puted that  there  were  98,000  in  the  neighbour- 
ing pastures.  M.  Depons  estimates  tits  number  in 


168        CATTLE — ELECTRIC  EELS. 

the  plains,  extending  from  the  mouths  of  the  Orinoco 
to  the  Lake  of  Maracaybo,  at  1,200,000  oxen,  180,000 
horses,  and  90,000  mules ;  and  in  the  pampas  of 
Buenos  Ayres  it  is  believed  that  there  are  12,000,000 
of  cows  and  3,000,000  of  horses,  not  including  cattle 
which  have  no  acknowledged  owner.  In  the  llanos 
of  Caraccas  the  richer  proprietors  of  the  great  hatos, 
or  cattle-farms,  brand  14,000  head  every  year,  and 
sell  5000  or  6000.  The  exportation  from  the  whole 
capitania-general  amounts  annually  to  174,000  skins 
of  oxen  and  11.500  of  goats,  for  the  West  India 
islands  alone.  This  stock  was  first  introduced  about 
1548  by  Christoval  Rodriguez.  They  are  of  the 
Spanish  breed,  and  their  disposition  is  so  gentle 
that  a  traveller  runs  no  risk  of  being  attacked  or 
pursued  by  them.  The  horses  are  also  descended 
from  ancestors  of  the  same  country,  and  are  gene- 
rally of  a  brown  colour.  There  were  no  sheep  in 
the  plains. 

Humboldt  remarks,  that  when  we  hear  of  the 
prodigious  numbers  of  oxen,  horses,  and  mules 
spread  over  the  plains  of  America,  we  forget  that  in 
civilized  Europe  the  aggregate  amount  is  not  less 
surprising.  According  to  M.  Peuchet,  France  feeds 
6,000,000  of  the  large-horned  class  ;  and  in  the  Aus- 
trian monarchy,  the  oxen,  cows,  and  calves  are  es- 
timated by  Mr.  Lichtenstein  at  about  13,400,000. 

At  Calabozo,  in  the  midst  of  the  llanos,  the  trav- 
ellers found  an  electrical  apparatus  nearly  as  com- 
plete as  those  of  Europe,  made  by  a  person  who  had 
never  seen  any  such  instrument,  had  received  no  in- 
structions, and  was  acquainted  with  the  phenomena 
of  electricity  only  by  reading  the  Treatise  of  Sigaud 
de  la  Fond,  and  Franklin's  Memoirs.  Next  to  this 
piece  of  mechanism,  the  objects  that  excited  the 
greatest  interest  were  the  electrical  eels,  or  gymnoti, 
which  abound  in  the  basins  of  stagnant  water  and 
the  confluents  of  the  Orinoco.  The  dread  of  the 
shocks  given  by  these  animals  is  so  great  among* 


FISHING   WITH  HORSES.  169 

the  common  people  and  Indians,  that  for  some  time 
no  specimens  could  be  procured,  and  one  which  was 
at  length  brought  to  them  afforded  very  unsatisfac- 
tory results. 

On  the  19th  March,  at  an  early  hour,  they  set  off 
for  the  village  of  Rastro  de  Abaxo,  whence  they 
were  conducted  by  the  natives  to  a  stream  which, 
in  the  dry  season,  forms  a  pool  of  muddy  water  sur- 
rounded by  trees.  It  being  very  difficult  to  catch 
the  gymnoti  with  nets,  on  account  of  their  extreme 
agility,  it  was  resolved  to  procure  some  by  intoxi- 
cating or  benumbing  them  with  the  roots  of  certain 
plants,  which  when  thrown  into  the  water  produce 
that  effect.  At  this  juncture  the  Indians  informed 
them  that  they  would  fish  with  horses,  and  soon 
brought  from  the  savanna  about  thirty  of  these  ani- 
mals, which  they  drove  into  the  pool. 

"  The  extraordinary  noise  caused  by  the  horses' 
hoofs  makes  the  fishes  issue  from  the  mud,  and  ex- 
cites them  to  combat.  These  yellowish  and  livid 
eels,  resembling  large  aquatic  snakes,  swim  at  the 
surface  of  the  water,  and  crowd  under  the  bellies 
of  the  horses  and  mules.  The  struggle  between 
animals  of  so  different  an  organization  affords  a  very 
interesting  sight.  The  Indians,  furnished  with  har- 
poons and  long  slender  reeds,  closely  surround  the 
pool.  Some  of  them  climb  the  trees,  whose  branches 
stretch  horizontally  over  the  water.  By  their  wild 
cries  and  their  long  reeds  they  prevent  the  horses 
from  coming  to  the  edge  of  the  basin.  The  eels, 
stunned  by  the  noise,  defend  themselves  by  repeated 
discharges  of  their  electrical  batteries,  and  for  a 
long  time  seem  likely  to  obtain  the  victory.  Several 
horses  sink  under  the  violence  of  the  invisible  blows 
which  they  receive  in  the  organs  most  essential  to 
life,  and,  benumbed  by  the  force  and  frequency  of 
the  shocks,  disappear  beneath  the  surface.  Others, 
panting,  with  erect  mane,  and  haggard  eyes  expres- 
sive of  anguish,  raise  themselves  and  endeavour  to 
P 


170  DESCRIPTION   OF   THE 

escape  from  the  storm  which  overtakes  them,  but 
are  driven  back  by  the  Indians.  A  few,  however, 
succeed  in  eluding  the  active  vigilance  of  the  fishers ; 
they  gain  the  shore,  stumble  at  every  step,  and 
stretch  themselves  out  on  the  sand,  exhausted  with 
fatigue,  and  having  their  limbs  benumbed  by  the 
electric  shocks  of  the  gymnoti. 

"  In  less  than  five  minutes  two  horses  were  killed. 
The  eel,  which  is  five  feet  long,  presses  itself  against 
the  belly  of  the  horse,  and  makes  a  discharge  along 
the  whole  extent  of  its  electric  organ.  It  attacks  at 
once  the  heart,  the  viscera,  and  the  caBliac  plexus  of 
the  abdominal  nerves.  It  is  natural  that  the  effect 
which  a  horse  experiences  should  be  more  powerful 
than  that  produced  by  the  same  fish  on  man,  when 
he  touches  it  only  by  one  of  the  extremities.  The 
horses  are  probably  not  killed,  but  only  stunned ; 
they  are  drowned  from  the  impossibility  of  rising 
amid  the  prolonged  struggle  between  the  other  horses 
and  eels." 

The  gymnoti  at  length  dispersed,  and  approached 
the  edge  of  the  pool,  when  five  of  them  were  taken 
by  means  of  small  harpoons  fastened  to  long  cords. 
A  few  more  were  caught  towards  evening,  and  there 
was  thus  obtained  a  sufficient  number  of  specimens 
on  which  to  make  experiments.  The  results  of  Hum- 
boldt's  observations  on  these  animals  may  be  stated 
briefly,  as  follows  : — 

The  gymnotus  is  the  largest  electrical  fish  known, 
some  of  those  measured  by  him  being  from  5  feet  4 
inches  to  5  feet  7  inches  in  length.  One,  4  feet  1 
inch  long,  weighed  15f  Troy  pounds,  and  its  trans- 
verse diameter  was  3  inches  7\  lines.  The  colour 
was  a  fine  olive-green  ;  the  under  part  of  the  head 
yellow  mingled  with  red.  Along  the  back  are  two 
rows  of  small  yellow  spots,  each  of  which  contains 
an  excretory  aperture  for  the  mucus,  with  which 
the  skin  is  constantly  covered.  The  swimming- 
bladder  is  of  large  size,  and  before  it  is  situated  an- 


GYMNOTUS   ELECTRICUS.  171 

other  of  smaller  dimensions ;  the  former  separated 
from  the  skin  by  a  mass  of  fat,  and  resting  upon  the 
electric  organs,  which  occupy  more  than  two-thirds 
of  the  fish. 

It  would  be  rash  to  expose  one's  self  to  the  first 
shocks  of  a  very  large  individual, — the  pain  and 
numbness  which  follow  in  such  a  case  being  ex- 
tremely  violent.  When  in  a  state  of  great  weak- 
ness, the  animal  produces  in  the  person  who  touches 
it  a  twitching,  which  is  propagated  from  the  hand  to 
the  elbow  ;  a  kind  of  internal  vibration  lasting  two 
or  three  seconds,  and  followed  by  painful  torpidity, 
being  felt  after  every  stroke.  The  electric  energy 
depends  Upon  the  will  of  the  creature,  and  it  directs 
it  towards  the  point  where  it  feels  most  strongly 
irritated.  The  organ  acts  only  under  the  immediate 
influence  of  the  brain  and  heart ;  for  when  one  of 
them  was  cut  through  the  middle,  the  fore -part  of 
the  body  alone  gave  shocks.  Its  action  on  man  is 
transmitted  and  intercepted  by  the  same  substances 
that  transmit  and  intercept  the  electrical  current  of 
a  conductor  charged  by  a  Leyden  jar  or  a  Voltaic 
pile.  In  the  water  the  shock  can  be  conveyed  to 
a  considerable  distance.  No  spark  has  ever  been  ob- 
served to  issue  from  the  body  of  the  eel  when  ex- 
cited. 

The  gymnoti  are  objects  of  dread  to  the  natives, 
and  their  presence  is  considered  as  the  principal 
cause  of  the  want  of  fish  in  the  pools  of  the  llanos. 
All  the  inhabitants  of  the  waters  avoid  them  ;  and 
the  Indians  asserted  that  when  they  take  young  al- 
ligators and  these  animals  in  the  same  net,  the  latter 
never  display  any  appearance  of  wounds,  because 
they  disable  their  enemies  before  they  are  attacked 
by  them.  It  became  necessary  to  change  the  di- 
rection of  a  road  near  Urituco,  solely  because  they 
were  so  numerous  in  a  river  that  they  killed  many 
mules  in  the  course  of  fording  it. 

On  the  24th  March  the  travellers  left  Calabozo, 


172  INDIAN    GIRL — CROCODILES. 

and  advanced  southward.  As  they  proceeded  they 
found  the  country  more  dusty,  and  destitute  of  herb- 
age. The  palm-trees  gradually  disappeared.  From 
eleven  in  the  morning  till  sunset  the  thermometer 
kept  at  95°.  Although  the  air  was  calm  at  the 
height  of  eight  or  ten  feet,  the  ground  was  swept  by 
little  currents  which  raised  clouds  of  dust.  About 
four  in  the  afternoon,  they  observed  in  the  savanna 
a  young  Indian  girl,  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age, 
quite  naked,  lying  on  her  back,  exhausted  with  fa- 
tigue and  thirst,  and  with  her  eyes,  nostrils,  and 
mouth  filled  with  dust.  Her  breathing  was  sterto- 
rous, and  she  was  unable  to  answer  the  questions 
put  to  her.  Happily  one  of  the  mules  was  laden 
with  water,  the  application  of  which  to  her  face 
aroused  her.  She  was  at  first  frightened,  but  by  de- 
grees took  courage,  and  conversed  with  the  guides. 
As  she  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  mount  the 
beasts  of  burden,  nor  to  return  to  Urituco,  she  was 
furnished  with  some  water ;  upon  which  she  re- 
sumed her  way,  and  was  soon  separated  from  her 
preservers  by  a  cloud  of  dust. 

In  the  night  they  forded  the  Rio  Urituco,  which  is 
filled  with  crocodiles  remarkable  for  their  ferocity, 
although  those  of  the  Rio  Tisnao,  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, are  not  at  all  dangerous.  They  were  shown 
a  hut  or  shed,  in  which  a  singular  scene  had  been 
witnessed  by  their  host  of  Calabozo,  who,  having 
slept  in  it  upon  a  bench  covered  with  leather,  was 
awakened  early  in  the  morning  by  a  violent  shaking, 
accompanied  with  a  horrible  noise.  Presently  an 
alligator,  two  or  three  feet  long,  issued  from  under 
the  bed,  and  darted  at  a  dog  lying  on  the  threshold, 
but  missing  him,  ran  towards  the  river.  When  the 
spot  where  the  bench  stood  was  examined,  the  dried 
mud  was  found  turned  up  to  a  considerable  depth, 
where  the  alligator  had  lain  in  its  state  of  torpidity, 
or  summer  sleep.  The  hut  being  situated  on  the 
edge  of  a  pool,  and  inundated  during  part  of  the 


MESA  DE  PAVONES.  173 

year,  the  animal  had  no  doubt  entered  at  that  period 
and  concealed  itself  in  the  mire.  The  Indians  often 
find  enormous  boas,  or  water-serpents,  in  the  same 
lethargic  state. 

On  the  25th  March  they  passed  over  the  smooth- 
est part  of  the  steppes  of  Caraccas,  the  Mesa  de  Pa- 
vones.  As  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  no  object 
fifteen  inches  high  could  be  discovered,  excepting 
cattle,  of  which  they  met  some  large  herds,  accom- 
panied by  flocks  of  the  crotophaga  ani,  a  bird  of  a 
black  colour,  with  olive  reflections.  They  were  ex- 
ceedingly tame,  and  perched  upon  the  quadrupeds  in 
search  of  insects. 

Wherever  excavations  had  been  made,  they  found 
the  rock  to  be  old  red  sandstone  or  conglomerate, 
in  which  were  observed  fragments  of  quartz,  kiesel- 
schiefer.  and  lydian  stone.  The  cementing  clay  is 
ferruginous,  and  often  of  a  very  bright  red.  This 
formation,  which  covers  an  extent  of  several  thou- 
sand square  leagues,  rests  on  the  northern  margin 
of  the  plains  upon  transition-slate,  and  to  the  south 
upon  the  granites  of  the  Orinoco. 

After  wandering  a  long  time  on  the  desert  and 
pathless  savannas  of  the  Mesa  de  Pavones,  they 
were  agreeably  surprised  to  find  a  solitary  farm- 
house surrounded  with  gardens  and  pools  of  clear 
water.  Farther  on  they  passed  the  night  near  the 
village  of  San  Geronymo  del  Guyaval,  situated  on 
the  banks  of  the  Rio  Guarico,  which  joins  the  Apure. 
The  ecclesiastic,  who  was  a  young  man,  and  had  no 
other  habitation  than  his  church,  received  them  in 
the  kindest  manner.  Crossing  the  Guarico,  they  en- 
camped in  the  plain,  and  early  in  the  morning  pur- 
sued their  tvay  over  low  grounds,  which  are  often 
inundated.  On  the  27th  they  arrived  at  the  Villa  de 
San  Fernando,  and  terminated  their  journey  over  the 
llanos. 

P2 


174        SAN  FERNANDO  DE  APURE. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Voyage  down  the  Rio  Apure. 

San  Fernando — Commencement  of  the  Rainy  Season— Progress  of  At- 
mospherical Phenomena— Cetaceous  Animals — Voyage  down  the  Rio 
Apure — Vegetation  and  Wild  Animals — Crocodiles,  Chiguires,  and 
Jaguars— Don  Ignacio  and  Donna  Isabella— Water-fowl— Nocturnal 
Bowlings  in  the  Forest — Caribe-fish — Adventure  with  a  Jaguar — Ma- 
natees— Mouth  of  the  Rio  Apure. 

THE  town  of  San  Fernando,  which  was  founded 
only  in  1789,  is  advantageously  situated  on  a  large 
navigable  river,  the  Apure,  a  tributary  of  the  Ori- 
noco, near  the  mouth  of  another  stream  which 
traverses  the  whole  province  of  Varinas,  all  the  pro- 
ductions of  which  pass  through  it  on  their  way  to 
the  coast.  It  is  during  the  rainy  season,  when  the 
rivers  overflow  their  banks  and  inundate  a  vast  ex- 
tent of  country,  that  commerce  is  most  active.  At 
this  period  the  savannas  are  covered  with  water  to 
the  depth  of  twelve  or  fourteen  feet,  and  present  the 
appearance  of  a  great  lake,  in  the  midst  of  which 
the  farm-houses  and  villages  are  seen  rising  on 
islands  scarcely  elevated  above  the  surface.  Horses, 
mules,  and  cows  perish  in  great  numbers,  and  afford 
abundant  food  to  the  zamuros,  or  carrion  vultures, 
as  well  as  to  the  alligators.  The  inhabitants,  to 
avoid  the  force  of  the  currents,  and  the  danger 
arising  from  the  trees  carried  down  by  them,  in- 
stead of  ascending  the  course  of  the  rivers,  find  it 
safer  to  cross  the  flats  in  their  boats. 

San  Fernando  is  celebrated  for  the  excessive  heat 
which  prevails  there  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
year.  The  travellers  found  the  white  sand  of  the 
shores,  wherever  it  was  exposed  to  the  sun,  to  have 


INTENSE    HEAT THUNDER.  175 

a  temperature  of  126'5°,  at  two  in  the  afternoon. 
The  thermometer,  raised  eighteen  inches  above  the 
sand,  indicated  109°  :  and  at  six  feet,  101*7°.  The 
temperature  of  the  air  in  the  shade  was  97°.  These 
observations  were  made  during  a  dead  calm,  and 
when  the  wind  began  to  blow,  the  heat  increased 
three  degrees. 

On  the  28th  March,  Humboldt  and  his  companion, 
being  on  the  shore  at  sunrise,  heard  the  thunder 
rolling  all  around,  although  as  yet  there  were  only 
scattered  clouds,  advancing  in  opposite  directions 
towards  the  zenith.  Deluc's  hygrometer  was  at  53°, 
the  thermometer  stood  at  74*7°,  and  the  electrome- 
ter gave  no  particular  indication.  As  the  clouds 
mustered,  the  blue  of  the  sky  changed  to  deep  azure, 
and  then  to  gray ;  and  when  it  was  completely  over- 
cast the  thermometer  rose  several  degrees.  Al- 
though a  heavy  rain  fell,  the  travellers  remained 
on  the  shore  to  observe  the  electrometer.  When 
it  was  held  at  the  height  of  six  feet  from  the 
ground,  the  pith-balls  generally  separated  only  a  few 
seconds  before  the  lightning  was  seen.  The  sep- 
aration was  four  lines.  The  electric  charge  re- 
mained the  same  for  several  minutes,  and  there  were 
repeated  oscillations  from  positive  to  negative.  To- 
wards the  end  of  the  storm  the  west  wind  blew  with 
great  impetuosity,  and  when  the  clouds  dispersed 
the  thermometer  fell  to  7T60. 

Humfroldt  states,  that  he  enters  into  these  details 
because  Europeans  usually  confine  themselves  to  a 
description  of  the  impression  made  on  their  minds 
by  the  solemn  spectacle  of  a  tropical  thunder-storm ; 
and  because,  in  a  country  where  the  year  is  divided 
into  two  great  seasons  of  drought  and  rain,  it  is  in- 
teresting to  trace  the  transition  from  the  one  to  the 
other.  In  the  valleys  of  Aragua,  he  had  from  the 
18th  February  observed  clouds  forming  in  the  even- 
ing, and  in  the  beginning  of  March  the  accumulation 
of  vesicular  vapours  became  visible.  Flashes  of 


176  PROGRESS    OF    ATMOSPHERIC 

lightning  were  seen  in  the  south,  and  at  sunset  Vol- 
ta's  electrometer  regularly  displayed  positive  indi- 
cations, the  separation  of  the  pith-balls  being  from 
three  to  four  lines.  After  the  26th  of  the  latter 
month,  the  electrical  equilibrium  of  the  atmosphere 
seemed  broken,  although  the  hygrometer  still  de- 
noted great  dryness. 

The  following  is  an  account  of  the  atmospheric 
phenomena  in  the  inland  districts  to  the  east  of  the 
Cordilleras  of  Merida  and  New-Grenada,  in  the  lla- 
nos of  Venezuela,  and  the  Rio  Meta,  from  the  fourth  to 
the  tenth  degree  of  north  latitude,  wherever  the  rains 
continue  from  May  to  October,  and  consequently  in- 
clude the  period  of  the  greatest  heat,  which  is  in 
July  and  August : — "  Nothing  can  equal  the  purity  of 
the  atmosphere  from  December  to  February.  The 
sky  is  then  constantly  without  clouds,  and  should 
one  appear,  it  is  a  phenomenon  that  occupies  all  the 
attention  of  the  inhabitants.  The  breeze  from  the 
east  and  north-east  blows  with  violence.  As  it 
always  carries  with  it  air  of  the  same  temperature, 
the  vapours  cannot  become  visible  through  refrigera- 
tion. Towards  the  end  of  February  and  the  begin- 
ning of  March  the  blue  of  the  sky  is  less  intense ; 
the  hygrometer  gradually  indicates  greater  humid- 
ity; the  stars  are  sometimes  veiled  by  a  thin  stratum 
of  vapours ;  their  light  ceases  to  be  tranquil  and 
planetary ;  and  they  are  seen  to  sparkle  from  time 
to  time  at  the  height  of  20°  above  the  horizon.  At 
this  period  the  breeze  diminishes  in  strength,  and  be- 
comes less  regular,  being  more  frequently  inter- 
rupted by  dead  calms.  Clouds  accumulate  towards 
the  south-east,  appearing  like  distant  mountains 
with  distinct  outlines.  From  time  to  time  they  are 
seen  to  separate  from  the  horizon,  and  traverse  the 
celestial  vault  with  a  rapidity  which  has  no  cor- 
respondence with  the  feebleness  of  the  wind  that 
prevails  in  the  lower  strata  of  the  air.  At  the  e,  id 
of  March  the  southern  region  of  the  atmosphere  is 


PHENOMENA   IN    THE    INTERIOR.'  177 

illuminated  by  small  electric  explosions,  like  phos- 
phorescent gleams  confined  to  a  single  group  of  va- 
pours. From  this  period  the  breeze  shifts  at  inter- 
vals, and  for  several  hours,  to  the  west  and  south- 
west, affording  a  sure  indication  of  the  approach  of 
the  rainy  season,  which,  on  the  Orinoco,  commences 
about  the  end  of  April.  The  sky  begins  to  be  over- 
cast, its  azure  colour  disappears,  and  a  gray  tint  is 
uniformly  diffused  over  it.  At  the  same  time  the 
heat  of  the  atmosphere  gradually  increases,  and  in- 
stead of  scattered  clouds  the  whole  vault  of  the 
heavens  is  overspread  with  condensed  vapours.  The 
howling-monkeys  begin  to  utter  their  plaintive  cries 
long  before  sunrise.  The  atmospheric  electricity, 
which,  during  the  period  of  the  greatest  drought, 
from  December  to  March,  had  been  almost  con- 
stantly in  the  daytime  from  1*7  to  2  lines  to  Volta's 
electrometer,  becomes  extremely  variable  after 
March.  During  whole  days  it  appears  null,  and 
again,  for  some  hours,  the  pith-balls  of  the  elec- 
trometer diverge  from  three  to  four  lines.  The  at- 
mosphere, which  in  the  torrid  as  in  the  temperate 
zone  is  generally  in  a  state  of  positive  electricity, 
passes  alternately,  in  the  course  of  eight  or  ten 
minutes,  to  the  negative  state.  The  rainy  season  is 
that  of  thunder-storms ;  and  yet  I  have  found,  from 
numerous  experiments  made  during  three  years,  that 
at  this  season  the  electric  tension  is  less  in  the 
lower  regions  of  the  atmosphere.  Are  thunder- 
storms the  effect  of  this  unequal  change  of  the  dif- 
ferent superimposed  strata  of  the  air  ?  What  pre- 
vents the  electricity  from  descending  towards  the 
earth  in  a  stratum  of  air  which  has  become  more 
humid  since  the  month  of  March  ?  At  this  period 
the  electricity,  in  place  of  being  diffused  through  the 
whole  atmosphere,  would  seem  to  be  accumulated 
on  the  outer  envelope  at  the  surface  of  the  clouds. 
According  to  M.  Gay  Lussac,  it  is  the  formation  of 
the  cloud  itself  that  carries  the  fluid  towards  the  sur- 


178  ATMOSPHERIC    PHENOMENA. 

face.  The  storm  rises  in  the  plains  two  hours  after 
the  sun  passes  through  the  meridian,  and  therefore 
shortly  after  the  period  of  the  maximum  of  the  di- 
urnal heat  in  the  tropics.  In  the  inland  districts  it 
is  exceedingly  rare  to  hear  thunder  at  night  or  in  the 
morning,  nocturnal  thunder-storms  being  peculiar  to 
certain  valleys  of  rivers  which  have  a  particular 
climate." 

It  maybe  interesting  to  present  a  very  brief  state- 
ment of  Humboldt's  explanation  of  these  phenome- 
na : — The  season  of  rains  and  thunder  in  the  northern 
equinoctial  zone  coincides  with  the  passage  of  the 
sun  through  the  zenith  of  the  place,  the  cessation 
of  the  breezes  or  north-east  winds,  and  the  frequency 
of  calms,  and  furious  currents  of  the  atmosphere 
from  the  south-east  and  south-west,  accompanied 
with  a  cloudy  sky.  While  the  breeze  from  the  north- 
east blow&,  it  prevents  the  atmosphere  from  being 
saturated  with  moisture.  The  hot  and  loaded  air  of 
the  torrid  zone  rises  and  flows  off  again  towards  the 
poles,  while  inferior  currents  from  these  last,  bring- 
ing drier  and  colder  strata,  take  the  place  of  the 
ascending  columns.  In  this  manner  the  humidity, 
being  prevented  from  accumulating,  passes  off  to- 
wards the  temperate  and  colder  regions,  so  that  the 
sky  is  always  clear.  When  the  sun,  entering  the 
northern  signs,  rises  towards  the  zenith,  the  breeze 
from  the  north-east  softens,  and  at  length  ceases ; 
this  being  the  season  at  which  the  difference  of  tem- 
perature between  the  tropics  and  the  contiguous 
zone  is  least.  The  column  of  air  resting  on  the 
equinoctial  zone  becomes  replete  with  vapours,  be- 
cause it  is  no  longer  renewed  by  the  current  from 
the  pole ;  clouds  form  in  this  atmosphere,  saturated 
and  cooled  by  the  effects  of  radiation  and  the  dilata- 
tion of  the  ascending  air,  which  increases  its  capacity 
for  heat  in  proportion  as  it  is  rarefied.  Electricity 
accumulates  in  the  higher  regions  in  consequence 
of  the  formation  of  the  vesicular  vapours,  the  pre- 


VOYAGE  DOWN  THE  APURE         179 

cipitation  of  which  is  constant  during  the  day,  but 
generally  ceases  at  night.  The  showers  are  more 
violent,  and  accompanied  with  electrical  explosions, 
shortly  after  the  maximum  of  the  diurnal  heat. 
These  phenomena  continue  until  the  sun  enters  the 
southern  signs,  when  the  polar  current  is  re-estab- 
lished, because  the  difference  between  the  heat  of 
the  equinoctial  and  temperate  regions  is  daily  increas- 
ing. The  air  of  the  tropics  being  thus  renewed,  the 
rains  cease,  the  vapours  are  dissolved,  and  the  sky 
resumes  its  azure  tint. 

At  San  Fernando,  Humboldt  observed  in  the  river 
long  files  of  cetaceous  animals,  resembling  the  com- 
mon porpoise.  The  crocodiles  seemed  to  dislike 
them,  and  dived  whenever  they  approached.  They 
were  three  or  four  feet  long,  and  appear  to  be  pecu- 
liar to  the  great  streams  of  South  America,  as  he 
saw  some  of  them  above  the  cataracts  of  the  Ori- 
noco, whither  they  could  not  have  ascended  from 
the  sea. 

The  rainy  season  had  now  commenced,  and  as  the 
way  to  that  river  by  land  lies  across  an  unhealthy 
and  uninteresting  flat,  they  preferred  the  longer  way 
by  the  Rio  Apure,  and  embarked  in  a  large  canoe  or 
lancha,  having  a  pilot  and  four  Indians  for  crew.  A 
cabin  was  constructed  in  the  stern,  of  sufficient  size 
to  hold  a  table  and  benches,  and  covered  with  cory- 
pha-leaves.  They  put  on  board  a  stock  of  provi- 
sions for  a  month,  while  the  capuchin  missionary, 
with  whom  they  had  lodged  during  their  stay,  sup- 
plied them  with  wine,  oranges,  and  tamarinds. 
Fishing-instruments,  firearms,  and  some  casks  of 
brandy,  for  bartering  with  the  natives,  were  added 
to  their  store.  On  the  30th  March,  at  four  in  the 
afternoon,  they  left  San  Fernando,  accompanied  by 
Don  Nicolas  Sopo,  brother-in-law  of  the  governor 
of  the  province.  The  river  abounds  in  fish,  ma- 
natees, and  turtles,  and  its  banks  are  peopled  by 
numberless  birds,  of  which  the  pauxi  and  guacharaca 


180  WILD   ANIMALS. 

are  the  most  useful  to  man.  Passing  the  mouth  of 
the  Apurito,  they  coasted  the  island  of  the  same 
name,  formed  by  the  Apure  and  Guarico,  and  which 
is  seventy-six  miles  in  length.  On  the  banks  they 
saw  huts  of  the  Yaruroes,  who  live  by  hunting  and 
fishing,  and  are  very  skilful  in  killing  jaguars,  the 
skins  of  which  they  dispose  of  in  the  Spanish  vil- 
lages. The  night  was  passed  at  Diamante,  a  small 
sugar-plantation. 

On  the  31st  a  contrary  wind  obliged  them  to  re- 
main on  shore  till  noon,  when  they  embarked,  and 
as  they  proceeded  found  the  river  gradually  widen- 
ing; one  of  its  banks  being  generally  sandy  and 
barren,  the  other  higher  and  covered  with  tall  trees. 
Sometimes,  however,  it  was  bordered  on  both  sides 
by  forests,  and  resembled  a  straight  canal  320  yards 
in  breadth.  Bushes  of  sauso  (Hermesia  castaneifo- 
lia)  formed  along  the  margins  a  kind  of  hedge  about 
four  feet  high,  in  which  the  jaguars,  tapirs,  and 
pecaris  had  made  openings  for  the  purpose  of  drink- 
ing ;  and  as  these  animals  manifest  little  fear  at  the 
approach  of  a  boat,  the  travellers  had  the  pleasure 
of  viewing  them  as  they  walked  slowly  along  the 
shore,  until  they  disappeared  in  the  forest.  When 
the  sauso-hedge  was  at  a  distance  from  the  current,, 
crocodiles  were  often  seen  in  parties  of  eight  or  ten, 
stretched  out  on  the  sand  motionless,  and  with  their 
jaws  opened  at  right  angles.  These  monstrous  rep- 
tiles were  so  numerous,  that  throughout  the  whole 
course  of  the  river  there  were  usually  five  or  six  in 
view,  although  the  wraters  had  scarcely  begun  to 
rise,  and  hundreds  were  still  buried  in  the  mud  of  the 
savannas.  A  dead  individual  which  they  found  was 
17  feet  9  inches  long,  and  another,  a  male,  was  more 
than  23.  This  species  is  not  a  cayman  or  alligator, 
but  a  real  crocodile,  with  feet  dentated  on  the  outer 
edge  like  that  of  the  Nile.  The  Indians  informed 
them,  that  scarcely  a  year  passes  at  San  Fernanda 
without  two  or  three  persons  being  drowned  by  them,, 


CROCODILES    AND    CHIGUIRES.  181 

and  related  the  history  of  a  young  girl  of  Urituco, 
who,  by  singular  presence  of  mind,  made  her  escape 
from  one.  Finding  herself  seized  and  carried  into 
the  water,  she  felt  for  the  eyes  of  the  animal,  and 
thrust  her  fingers  into  them ;  when  the  crocodile  let 
her  loose,  after  biting  off  the  lower  part  of  her  left 
arm.  Notwithstanding  the  quantity  of  blood  which 
she  lost,  she  was  still  able  to  reach  the  shore  by 
swimming  with  the  right  hand.  Mungo  Park's 
guide,  Isaaco,  effected  his  preservation  from  a  croco- 
dile by  employing  the  same  means.  The  motions 
of  these  animals  are  abrupt  and  rapid  when  they 
attack  an  object,  although  they  move  very  slowly 
when  not  excited.  In  running  they  make  a  rustling 
noise,  which  seems  to  proceed  from  their  scales,  and 
appear  higher  on  their  legs  than  when  at  rest,  at  the 
same  time  bending  the  back.  They  generally  ad- 
vance in  a  straight  line,  but  can  easily  turn  when 
they  please.  They  swim  with  great  facility,  even 
against  the  most  rapid  current.  On  the  Apure  they 
seemed  to  live  chiefly  on  the  chiguires  (Cavia  capy- 
lara),  which  feed  in  herds  on  the  banks,  and  are  of 
the  size  of  our  pigs.  These  creatures  have  no 
weapons  for  defence,  and  are  alternately  the  prey 
of  the  jaguars  on  land  and  of  the  crocodiles  in  the 
water. 

Stopping  below  the  mouth  of  the  Cano  de  la  Fi- 
guera,  in  a  sinuosity  called  La  Vuelta  del  Joval,  they 
measured  the  velocity  of  the  current  at  its  surface, 
which  was  only  3*4  feet  in  a  second.  Here  they 
were  surrounded  by  chiguires,  swimming  like  dogs, 
with  the  head  and  neck  out  of  the  water.  A  large 
crocodile,  which  was  sleeping  on  the  shore  in  the 
midst  of  a  troop  of  these  animals,  awoke  at  the 
approach  of  the  canoe,  and  moved  slowly  into  the 
stream  without  frightening  the  others.  Near  the  Jo- 
val every  thing  assumed  a  wild  and  awful  aspect. 
Here  they  saw  an  enormous  jaguar  stretched  beneath 
the  shade  of  a  large  zamang  or  mimosa.  It  had 
Q 


182  JAGUAR. 

just  killed  a  chiguire,  which  it  held  with  one  of  its 
paws,  while  the  zamuro-vultures  were  assembled  in 
flocks  around  it.  It  was  curious  to  observe  the 
mixture  of  boldness  and  timidity  which  these  birds 
exhibited,  for  although  they  advanced  within  two 
feet  of  the  tiger,  they  instantly  shrank  back  at  the 
least  motion  which  he  made.  In  order  to  examine 
more  nearly  their  manners,  the  travellers  went  into 
the  little  boat ;  when  the  tyrant  of  the  forest  with- 
drew behind  the  sauso-bushes,  leaving  his  victim, 
which  the  vultures  in  the  mean  time  attempted  to 
devour,  but  were  soon  put  to  flight  by  his  rushing 
into  the  midst  of  them.* 

Continuing  to  descend  the  river,  they  met  with  a 
great  herd  of  chiguires  that  the  tiger  had  dispersed, 
and  from  which  he  had  selected  his  prey.  These 
animals  seemed  not  to  be  afraid  of  men,  for  they  saw 
the  travellers  land  without  agitation,  but  the  sight  of 
a  dog  put  them  to  flight.  They  ran  so  slowly  that 
the  people  succeeded  in  catching  two  of  them.  It  is 
the  largest  of  the  Glires,  or  gnawing  animals.  Its 
flesh  has  a  disagreeable  smell  of  musk,  although 

*  Ih  the  province  of  Tucuman,  the  common  mode  of  killing  the  jaguar 
is  to  trace  him  to  his  lair  by  the  wool  left  on  the  bushes,  if  he  has  carried 
off  a  sheep,  or  by  means  of  a  dog  trained  for  the  purpose.  On  finding 
the  enemy  the  gaucho  puts  himself  into  a  position  for  receiving  him  oa 
the  point  of  a  bayonet  or  spear,  at  the  first  spring  which  he  makes,  and 
thus  waits  until  the  dogs  drive  him  out ;  an  exploit  which  he  performs 
with  such  coolness  and  dexterity  that  there  is  scarcely  an  instance  of 
failure.  "  In  a  recent  instance,  related  by  our  capitaz,  the  business  was 
not  so  quickly  completed.  The  animal  lay  stretched  at  full  length  on  the 
ground,  like  a  gorged  cat.  Instead  of  showing  anger  and  attacking  his 
enemies  with  fury,  he  was  playful,  and  disposed  rather  to  parley  with  the 
dogs  with  good-humour  than  to  take  their  attack  in  sober  earnestness. 
He  was  now  fired  upon,  and  a  ball  lodged  in  his  shoulder ;  on  which  he 
sprang  so  quickly  on  his  watching  assailant,  that  he  not  only  buried  the 
bayonet  in  his  body,  but  tumbled  over  the  capitaz  who  held  it,  and  they 
floundered  on  the  ground  together,  the  man  being  completely  in  his 
clutches.  '  I  thought,'  said  the  brave  fellow,  '  I  was  no  longer  a  capitaz, 
while  I  held  my  arm  up  to  protect  my  throat,  which  the  animal  seemed  in 
the  act  of  seizing ;  but  when  I  expected  to  feel  his  fangs  in  my  flesh,  the 
green  fire  of  his  eyes  which  blazed  upon  me,  flashed  out  in  a  moment. 
He  fell  on  me  and  expired  at  the  very  instant  I  thought  myself  lost  for 
ever.' " — Captain  Andrews's  Travels  in  South  America,  vol.  i.  p.  219. 


JAGUAR-HUNTER.  185 

hams  are  made  of  it  in  the  country,  which  are  eaten 
during  Lent ;  as  this  quadruped,  according  to  eccle- 
siastical zoology,  is  esteemed  a  fish. 

The  travellers  passed  the  night  as  usual  in  the  open 
air,  although  in  a  plantation,  the  proprietor  of  which, 
a  jaguar-hunter,  half-naked,  and  as  brown  as  a  Zambo, 
prided  himself  on  being  of  the  European  race,  and 
called  his  wife  and  daughter,  who  were  as  slightly 
clothed  as  himself,  Donna  Isabella  and  Donna  Man- 
uela.  Humboldt  had  brought  a  chiguire  ;  but  his 
host  assured  him  such  food  was  not  fit  for  white 
gentlemen  like  them,  at  the  same  time  offering  him 
venison.  As  this  aspiring  personage  had  neither 
house  nor  hut,  he  invited  the  strangers  to  sling  their 
hammocks  near  his  own,  between  two  trees ;  which 
they  accordingly  did.  They  soon  found  reason,  how- 
ever, to  regret  that  they  had  not  obtained  better  shel- 
ter; for  after  midnight  a  thunder-storm  came  on, 
which  wetted  them  to  the  skin.  Donna  Isabella's 
cat  had  perched  on  one  of  the  trees,  and  fell  into  a 
cot,  the  inmate  of  which  imagined  he  was  attacked 
by  some  wild  beast,  and  could  hardly  be  quieted. 

At  sunrise,  the  lodgers  took  leave  of  Don  Ignacio 
and  his  lady,  and  proceeded  on  their  voyage.  The 
weather  was  a  little  cooler,  the  thermometer  having 
fallen  from  86°  to  75°,  but  the  temperature  of  the 
river  continued  at  79°  or  80°.  One  might  imagine 
that  on  smooth  ground,  where  no  eminence  can  be 
distinguished,  the  stream  would  have  hollowed  out 
an  even  bed  for  itself ;  but  this  is  by  no  means  the 
ease ;  the  two  banks  not  opposing  equal  resistance 
to  the  water.  Below  the  Joval  the  mass  of  the  cur- 
rent is  a  little  wider,  and  forms  a  perfectly  straight 
channel,  margined  on  either  side  by  lofty  trees.  It 
was  here  about  290  yards  broad.  They  passed  a 
low  island  densely  covered  by  flamingoes,  roseate 
spoonbills,  herons,  and  water-hens,  which  presented 
a  most  diversified  mixture  of  colours.  On  the  right 
bank  they  found  a  little  Indian  mission,  consisting  of 
Q2 


186  NOCTURNAL   HOWLTNGS. 

sixteen  huts  constructed  of  palm-leaves,  and  inhab- 
ited by  a  tribe  of  the  Guamoes.  These  Christians 
were  unable  to  furnish  them  with  the  provisions 
which  they  wanted,  but  hospitably  offered  them  dried 
fish  and  water.  The  night  was  spent  on  a  bare  and 
very  extensive  beach.  The  forest  being  impenetra- 
ble, they  had  great  difficulty  in  obtaining  dry  wood 
to  light  fires  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  off  the  wild 
beasts.  But  the  night  was  calm,  with  beautiful 
moonlight.  Finding  no  tree  on  the  banks,  they  stuck 
their  oars  in  the  sand,  and  suspended  their  hammocks 
upon  them.  About  eleven  there  arose  in  the  wood 
so  terrific  a  noise  that  it  was  impossible  to  sleep. 
The  Indians  distinguished  the  cries  of  sapajous,  alou- 
ates,  jaguars,  cougars,  pecaris,  sloths,  carassows, 
panakas,  and  other  gallinaceous  birds.  When  the 
tigers  approached  the  edge  of  the  forest,  a  dog  which 
the  travellers  had  began  to  howl  and  seek  refuge 
under  their  cots.  Sometimes,  after  a  long  silence, 
the  cry  of  the  ferocious  animal  came  from  the  tops 
of  the  trees,  when  it  was  followed  by  the  sharp 
and  long  whistling  of  the  monkeys.  Humboldt  sup- 
poses the  noise  thus  made  by  the  inhabitants  of 
the  thicket,  at  certain  hours  of  the  night,  to  be 
the  effect  of  some  contest  that  has  arisen  among 
them. 

On  the  2d  April  they  set  sail  before  sunrise.  The 
river  was  ploughed  by  porpoises,  and  the  shore 
crowded  with  aquatic  birds ;  while  some  of  the  latter, 
perched  on  the  floating  timber,  were  endeavouring 
to  surprise  the  fish  that  preferred  the  middle  of  the 
stream.  The  navigation  is  rather  dangerous,  on  ac- 
count of  the  large  trees  which  remain  obliquely  fixed 
in  the  mud,  and  the  canoe  touched  several  times. 
Near  the  island  of  Carizales,  they  saw  enormous 
trunks  covered  with  plotuses  or  darters,  and  below 
it  observed  a  diminution  of  the  waters  of  the  river, 
owing  to  infiltration  and  evaporation.  Near  the 
Vuelta  de  Basilio,  where  they  landed  to  gather 


ADVENTURES  WITH  A  JAGUAR.       187 

plants,  they  saw  on  a  tree  two  beautiful  jet-black 
monkeys  of  an  unknown  species,  and  also  a  nest 
of  iguanas,  which  was  pointed  out  by  the  Indians. 
The  flesh  of  this  lizard  is  very  white,  and,  next  to 
that  of  the  armadillo,  is  the  best  food  to  be  found  in 
the  huts  of  the  natives.  Towards  evening  it  rained, 
and  swallows  were  seen  skimming  along  the  water. 
They  also  saw  a  flock  of  parrots  pursued  by  hawks. 
The  night  was  passed  on  the  beach. 

On  the  3d  they  proceeded  down  the  river  in  their 
solitary  course.  The  sailors  caught  the  fish  known 
in  the  country  by  the  name  of  caribe ;  which,  although 
only  four  or  five  inches  in  length,  attacks  persons 
who  go  into  the  water,  and  with  its  sharp  triangular 
teeth  often  tears  considerable  portions  of  flesh  from 
their  legs.  When  pieces  of  meat  are  cast  into  the 
river,  clouds  of  these  little  fishes  appear  in  a  few 
minutes.  There  are  three  varieties  in  the  Orinoco ; 
one  of  which  seems  to  be  the  Salmo  rhombeus  of 
Linnaeus.  At  noon  they  stopped  in  a  desert  spot 
called  Algodonal,  when  Humboldt  left  his  companions 
and  went  along  the  beach  to  observe  a  group  of 
crocodiles  sleeping  in  the  sun.  Some  little  herons 
of  a  white  colour  were  walking  along  their  backs, 
and  even  on  their  heads.  As  he  was  proceeding, 
his  eyes  directed  towards  the  river,  he  discovered 
recent  footmarks  of  a  beast  of  prey,  and  turning 
towards  the  forest,  found  himself  within  eighty  steps 
of  an  enormously  large  jaguar.  Although  extremely 
frightened,  he  yet  retained  sufficient  command  of 
himself  to  follow  the  advice  which  the  Indians  had 
so  often  given,  and  continued  to  walk  without  mov- 
ing his  arms,  making  a  large  circuit  towards  the  edge 
of  the  water.  As  the  distance  increased  he  accele- 
rated his  pace,  and  at  length,  judging  it  safe  to  look 
about,  did  so,  and  saw  the  tiger  in  the  same  spot. 
Arriving  at  the  boat  out  of  breath,  he  related  his  ad- 
venture to  the  natives,  who  seemed  to  think  it  nothing 
extraordinary.  In  the  evening  they  passed  the  mouth 


188  MANATEES. 

of  the  Cano  del  Manati,  so  named  on  account  of  the 
vast  number  of  manatees  caught  there.  This  aquatic 
herbivorous  animal  generally  attains  the  length  of 
ten  or  twelve  feet,  and  abounds  in  the  Orinoco  below 
the  cataracts,  the  Rio  Meta,  and  the  Apure.  The 
flesh,  although  very  savoury  and  resembling  pork,  is 
considered  unwholesome ;  but  it  is  in  request  during 
Lent,  being  classed  by  the  monks  among  fishes. 
The  fat  is  used  for  lamps  in  the  churches,  as  well  as 
for  cooking ;  while  the  hide  is  cut  into  slips  to  supply 
the  place  of  cordage.  Whips  are  also  made  of  it  in 
the  Spanish  colonies  for  the  castigation  of  negroes 
and  other  slaves.  The  fires  lighted  by  the  boatmen 
on  the  shore  attracted  the  crocodiles  and  dolphins. 
Two  persons  kept  watch  during  the  night.  A  jaguar 
with  her  cub  approached  the  encampment,  but  was 
driven  away  by  the  attendants ;  and  soon  after  the 
dog  was  bitten  in  the  nose  by  a  large  bat  or  vam- 
pire. 

On  the  4th  they  intended  to  pass  the  night  at 
Vuelta  del  Palmito ;  but  as  the  Indians  were  going 
to  sling  the  hammocks  they  found  two  tigers  con- 
cealed behind  a  tree,  and  it  was  judged  safer  to  re- 
embark  and  sleep  on  the  island  of  Apurito.  Multi- 
tudes of  gnats  made  their  appearance  regularly  at 
sunset,  and  covered  their  faces  and  hands.  On  the 
5th  they  were  much  struck  by  the  diminution  the 
waters  of  the  Apure  had  undergone,  which  they 
attributed  chiefly  to  absorption  by  the  sand  and  evap- 
oration. It  was  only  from  128  to  170  yards  broad, 
and  about  twenty  feet  deep.  Humboldt  estimates 
the  mean  fall  of  this  river  at  14  inches  in  a  mile. 
The  canoe  touched  several  times  on  shoals  as  they 
approached  the  point  of  junction,  and  it  became  ne- 
cessary to  tow  it  by  means  of  a  line. 


THE    ORINOCO.  189 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Voyage  up  the  Orinoco. 

Ascent  of  the  Orinoco— Port  of  Encaramada — Traditions  of  a  universal 
Deluge— Gathering  of  Turtles'  Eggs— Two  Species  described — Mode 
of  collecting  the  Eggs  and  of  manufacturing  the  Oil — Probable  Num- 
ber of  these  Animals  on  the  Orinoco — Decorations  of  the  Indians — 
Encampment  of  Pararuma — Height  of  the  Inundations  of  the  Ori- 
noco—Rapids of  Tabage. 

LEAVING  the  Rio  Apure,  the  travellers  entered  the 
Orinoco,  and  presently  found  themselves  in  a  coun- 
try of  an  entirely  different  aspect.  As  far  as  the 
eye  could  reach  there  lay  before  them  a  sheet  of 
water,  the  waves  of  which,  from  the  conflict  of  the 
breeze  and  the  current,  rose  to  the  height  of  several 
feet.  The  long  files  of  herons,  flamingoes,  and 
spoonbills  which  were  observed  on  the  Apure  had 
disappeared ;  and  all  that  supplied  the  place  of  those 
multitudes  of  animated  beings  by  whom  they  had 
been  lately  accompanied  was  here  and  there  a  croco- 
dile swimming  in  the  agitated  stream.  The  hori- 
zon was  bounded  by  a  girdle  of  forests,  separated 
from  the  river  by  a  broad  beach,  the  bare  and 
parched  surface  of  which  refracted  the  solar  rays 
into  the  semblance  of  pools. 

The  wind  was  favourable  for  sailing  up  the  Ori- 
noco ;  but  the  short  broken  waves  at  the  junction  of 
the  two  rivers  were  exceedingly  disagreeable.  They 
passed  the  Punta  Curiquima,  a  granitic  promontory, 
between  which  and  the  mouth  of  the  Apure  the 
breadth  of  the  stream  was  ascertained  to  be  4063 
yards,  and  in  the  rainy  season  it  extends  to  11,760. 
The  temperature  of  the  water  was  in  the  middle  of 
the  current  82'9°,  and  near  the  shores  84'6°.  They 


190  CARIB   INDIANS. 

first  went  up  towards  the  south-west  as  far  as  the 
shore  of  the  Guaricoto  Indians  on  the  left  bank,  and 
then  towards  the  south.  The  mountains  of  Encara- 
mada, forming  a  continued  chain  from  west  to  east, 
seemed  to  rise  from  the  water  as  distant  land  rises 
on  the  horizon  at  sea.  The  beach  was  composed 
of  clay  intermixed  with  scales  of  mica,  deposited 
in  very  thin  strata.  At  the  port  of  Encaramada, 
where  they  stopped  for  some  time,  they  met  with  a 
Carib  cacique  going  up  the  river  in  his  canoe  to 
gather  turtles'  eggs.  He  was  armed  with  a  bow  and 
arrows,  as  were  his  attendants,  and,  like  them,  he 
was  naked  and  painted  red.  These  Indians  were 
tall  and  athletic,  and,  with  their  hair  cut  straight 
across  the  forehead,  their  eyebrows  painted  black, 
and  their  gloomy  but  animated  countenances  had  a 
singular  appearance.  The  travellers  were  surprised 
to  find  that  the  anterior  portion  of  the  cranium  is 
not  so  depressed  as  those  of  the  Caribs  are  usually 
represented  to  be.  The  women  carried  their  infants 
on  their  backs.  The  shore  is  here  formed  by  a  rock 
forty  or  fifty  feet  high,  composed  of  blocks  of  gran- 
ite piled  upon  each  other ;  the  surface  of  which  was 
of  a  dark-gray  colour,  although  the  interior  was  red- 
dish-white. The  night  was  passed  in  a  creek  oppo- 
site the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Cabullare.  The  evening  was 
beautiful,  with  moonlight ;  but  towards  twelve  the 
north-east  wind  blew  so  violently  that  they  became 
apprehensive  for  the  safety  of  their  canoe. 

On  the  6th,  continuing  to  ascend,  they  saw  the 
southern  side  of  the  mountains  of  Encaramada, 
which  stretch  along  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  and 
are  inhabited  by  Indians  of  a  gentle  character,  and 
addicted  to  agriculture.  There  is  a  tradition  here, 
and  elsewhere  on  the  Orinoco,  among  the  natives, 
"  That  at  the  time  of  the  Great  Waters,  when  their 
fathers  were  obliged  to  betake  themselves  to  their 
canoes  in  order  to  escape  the  general  inundation, 
the  waves  of  the  sea  beat  upon  the  rocks  of  Encara- 


TRADITIONS    OF    A    DELUGE.  191 

mada."  When  the  Tamanacs  are  asked  how  the 
human  race  survived  this  great  deluge  they  say, 
"  That  a  man  and  a  woman  saved  themselves  upon  a 
high  mountain  called  Tamanacu,  situated  on  the 
bank  of  the  Aseveru,  and  that,  throwing  behind 
them,  over  their  heads,  the  fruits  of  the  Mauritia 
palm,  they  saw  arising  from  the  nuts  of  these  fruits 
the  men  and  women  who  repeopled  the  earth." 
Thus,  among  the  natives  of  America,  a  fable  similar 
to  that  of  Pyrrha  and  Deucalion  commemorates  the 
grand  catastrophe  of  a  general  inundation.  Hum- 
boldt,  in  reference  to  the  same  event,  mentions  that 
hieroglyphic  figures  are  often  found  along  the  Ori- 
noco sculptured  on  rocks  now  inaccessible  but  by 
scaffolding,  and  that  the  natives,  when  asked  how 
these  figures  could  have  been  made,  answer  with  a 
smile,  as  relating  a  fact  of  which  a  stranger  alone 
could  be  ignorant,  "  That  at  the  period  of  the  Great 
Waters  their  fathers  went  to  that  height  in  boats." 
"  These  ancient  traditions  of  the  human  race," 
says  Humboldt,  "  which  we  find  dispersed  over  the 
surface  of  the  globe,  like  the  fragments  of  a  vast 
shipwreck,  are  of  the  greatest  interest  in  the  philo- 
sophical study  of  our  species.  Like  certain  families 
of  plants,  which,  notwithstanding  the  diversity  of 
climates  and  the  influence  of  heights,  retain  the  im- 
press of  a  common  type,  the  traditions  respecting 
the  primitive  state  of  the  globe  present  among  all 
nations  a  resemblance  that  fills  us  with  astonish- 
ment ;  so  many  different  languages  belonging  to 
branches  which  appear  to  have  no  connexion  with 
each  other,  transmit  the  same  facts  to  us.  The  sub- 
stance of  the  traditions  respecting  the  destroyed 
races  and  the  renovation  of  nature  is  everywhere 
almost  the  same,  although  each  nation  gives  it  a 
local  colouring.  In  the  great  continents,  as  in  the 
smallest  islands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  it  is  always  on 
the  highest  and  nearest  mountain  that  the  remains 
of  the  human  race  were  saved ;  and  this  event  ap- 


1U2  EGG-HARVEST. 

pears  so  much  the  more  recent  the  more  unculti- 
vated the  nations  are,  and  the  shorter  the  period 
since  they  have  begun  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of 
themselves.  When  we  attentively  examine  the 
Mexican  monuments  anterior  to  the  discovery  of 
America, — penetrate  into  the  forests  of  the  Orinoco, 
and  become  aware  of  the  smallness  of  the  Euro- 
pean establishments,  their  solitude,  and  the  state  of 
the  tribes  which  retain  their  independence, — we  can- 
not allow  ourselves  to  attribute  the  agreement  of 
these  accounts  to  the  influence  of  missionaries  and 
to  that  of  Christianity  upon  national  traditions.  Nor 
is  it  more  probable  that  the  sight  of  marine  bodies 
found  on  the  summits  of  mountains  presented  to  the 
tribes  of  the  Orinoco  the  idea  of  those  great  inun- 
dations which  for  some  time  extinguished  the  germs 
of  organic  life  upon  the  globe. — The  country  which 
extends  from  the  right  bank  of  the  Orinoco  to  the 
Casiquiare  and  the  Rio  Negro  consists  of  primitive 
rocks.  I  saw  there  a  small  deposite  of  sandstone 
or  conglomerate,  but  no  secondary  limestone,  and 
no  trace  of  petrifactions." 

At  eleven  in  the  morning  the  travellers  landed  on 
an  island  celebrated  for  the  turtle  fishery,  or  the 
"harvest  of  eggs,"  which  takes  place  'annually. 
Here  they  found  encamped  more  than  300  Indians 
of  different  races,  each  tribe,  distinguished  by  its 
peculiar  mode  of  painting,  keeping  separate  from  the 
rest,  together  with  a  few  white  men  who  had  come 
to  purchase  egg-oil  from  them.  The  missionary  of 
Uruana,  whose  presence  was  necessary  to  procure 
a  supply  for  the  lamp  of  the  church  and  keep  the 
natives  in  order,  received  the  strangers  with  kind- 
ness, and  made  the  tour  of  the  island  with  them ; 
showing  them,  by  means  of  a  pole  which  he  thrust 
into  the  sand,  the  extent  of  the  stratum  of  eggs,  that 
had  been  deposited  wherever  there  were  no  emi- 
nences. The  Indians  asserted,  that  in  coming  up  the 
Orinoco,  from  its  mouth  to  the  junction  of  the  Apure, 


AQUATIC    TORTOISES.  193 

there  is  no  place  where  eggs  can  be  collected  in 
abundance  ;  and  the  only  three  spots  where  the 
turtles  assemble  annually  in  great  numbers  are  situ- 
ated between  the  mouth  of  the  A  pure  and  the  great 
cataracts.  These  animals  do  not  seem  to  pass  be- 
yond the  falls,  the  species  found  above  Atures  and 
Maypures  being  different. 

The  arrau  or  tortuga,  which  deposites  the  eggs 
that  are  so  much  valued  on  the  Lower  Orinoco,  is 
a  large  fresh-water  tortoise,  with  webbed  feet,  a 
very  flat  head,  a  deep  groove  between  the  eyes,  and 
an  upper  shell  composed  of  five  central,  eight  lateral, 
and  twenty- four  marginal  scutella  or  plates.  The 
colour  is  dark-gray  above  and  orange  beneath. 
When  of  full  size  it  weighs  from  forty  to  fifty  pounds. 
The  eggs  are  much  larger  than  those  of  a  pigeon, 
and  are  covered  with  a  calcareous  crust. 

The  terekay,  the  species  which  occurs  above  the 
cataracts,  is  much  smaller.  It  has  the  same  num- 
ber of  dorsal  plates,  but  the  colour  is  olive  green, 
with  two  spots  of  red  mixed  with  yellow  on  the  top  of 
the  head,  and  a  prickly  appendage  under  the  chin. 
The  eggs  have  an  agreeable  taste,  and  are  much 
sought  after,  but  are  not  deposited  in  masses  like 
those  of  the  tortuga.  This  variety  is  found  below 
the  cataracts  as  well  as  in  the  Apure,  the  Urituco, 
the  Guarico,  and  the  small  rivers  of  the  llanos  of 
Caraccas. 

The  period  at  which  the  arrau  deposites  its  eggs 
is  when  the  river  is  lowest.  About  the  beginning 
of  February  these  creatures  issue  from  the  water 
and  warm  themselves  on  the  beach,  remaining  there 
a  great  part  of  the  day.  Early  in  the  month  of 
March  they  assemble  on  the  islands  where  they 
breed,  when  thousands  are  to  be  seen  ranged  in  files 
along  the  shores.  The  Indians  place  sentinels  at 
certain  distances  to  prevent  them  from  being  dis- 
turbed, and  the  people  who  pass  in  boats  are  told  to 
keep  in  the  middle  of  the  river.  The  laying  of  the 
R 


194  HARVEST    OF    TORTOISE-EGGS. 

eggs  begins  soon  after  sunset,  and  is  continued 
throughout  the  night.  The  animal  digs  a  hole  three 
feet  in  diameter  and  two  in  breadth  with  its  hind 
feet,  which  are  very  long  and  furnished  with  crooked 
claws.  So  pressing  is  the  desire  which  it  feels  to 
get  rid  of  its  burden,  that  great  confusion  prevails, 
and  an  immense  number  of  eggs  is  broken.  Some 
of  the  tortoises  are  surprised  by  day  before  they 
have  finished  the  operation,  and  becoming  insensi- 
ble to  danger,  continue  to  work  with  the  greatest 
diligence  even  in  the  presence  of  the  fishers. 

The  Indians  assemble  about  the  beginning  of 
April,  and  commence  operations  under  the  direction 
of  the  missionaries,  who  divide  the  egg-ground  into 
portions.  The  leading  person  among  them  first 
examines  by  means  of  a  long  pole  or  cane  how  far 
the  bed  extends,  and  then  allots  the  shares.  The 
natives  remove  the  earth  with  tlieir  hands,  gather 
up  the  eggs,  and  carry  them  in  baskets  to  the  camp, 
where  they  throw  them  into  long  wooden  troughs 
filled  with  water.  They  are  next  broken  and  stirred, 
and  remain  exposed  to  the  sun  until  the  yolk,  which 
swims  at  the  surface,  has  time  to  inspissate,  when 
it  is  taken  off  and  boiled.  The  oil  thus  obtained  is 
limpid  and  destitute  of  smell,  and  is  used  for  lamps 
as  well  as  for  cooking.  The  shores  of  the  missions 
of  Uruana  furnish  1000  botijas  or  jars  annually,  and 
the  three  stations  jointly  may  be  supposed  to  furnish 
5000.  It  requires  5000  eggs  to  fill  ajar;  and  if  we 
estimate  at  100  or  116  the  number  which  one  tor- 
toise produces,  and  allow  one-third  to  be  broken  at 
the  time  of  laying,  we  may  presume  that  330,000  of 
these  animals  assemble  every  year,  and  lay  33,000,000 
of  eggs.  This  calculation,  however,  is  much  below 
the  truth.  Many  of  them  lay  only  60  or  70 ;  great  num- 
bers of  them  again  are  devoured  by  jaguars  ;  the  In- 
dians take  away  a  considerable  quantity  to  eat  them 
dried  in  the  sun,  and  break  nearly  as  many  while 
gathering  them ;  and,  besides,  the  proportion  that  is 


ASCENT    OF    THE    ORINOCO.  195 

hatched  is  such  that  Humboldt  saw  the  whole  shore 
near  the  encampment  of  Uruana  swarming  with 
young  ones.  Moreover,  all  the  arraus  do  not  as- 
semble on  the  three  shores  of  the  encampments,  but 
many  lay  elsewhere.  The  number  which  annually 
deposite  their  eggs  on  the  shores  of  the  Lower  Ori- 
noco may,  therefore,  be  estimated  at  little  short  of 
a  million.  The  travellers  were  shown  the  shells 
of  large  turtles  which  had  been  emptied  by  the 
jaguars.  These  animals  surprise  them  on  the  sand, 
and  turn  them  on  their  back  in  order  to  devour  them 
at  their  ease ;  they  dig  up  the  eggs  also :  and,  to- 
gether with  the  gallinazo  vulture  and  the  herons, 
destroy  thousands  of  their  brood. 

After  procuring  some  fresh  provision,  and  taking 
leave  of  the  missionary,  they  set  sail  in  the  after- 
noon. The  wind  blew  in  squalls,  and  after  they  had 
entered  the  mountainous  part  of  the  country,  they 
found  the  canoe  not  very  safe  when  under  sail ;  but 
the  master  was  desirous  of  showing  off  to  the  In- 
dians, and  in  going  close  upon  the  wind  almost  upset 
his  vessel,  which  filled  with  water,  and  nearly  foun- 
dered. In  the  evening  they  landed  on  a  barren 
island,  where  they  supped  under  a  beautiful  moon- 
light, with  turtle-shells  for  seats,  and  indulged  their 
imagination  with  the  picture  of  a  shipwrecked  man, 
wandering  on  the  desert  shores  of  the  Orinoco  amid 
rivers  full  of  crocodiles  and  caribe  fishes.  The  night 
was  intensely  hot,  and  not  finding  trees  on  which  to 
sling  their  hammocks,  they  slept  on  skins  spread  on 
the  ground.  To  their  surprise  the  jaguars  swam  to 
the  island,  although  they  had  kindled  fires  to  pre- 
vent them;  but  these  animals  did  not  venture  to 
attack  them. 

On  the  7th  they  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Rio 
Arauca,  which  is  frequented  by  immense  numbers 
of  birds.  They  also  saw  the  mission  of  Uruana,  at 
the  foot  of  a  mountain  composed  of  detached  blocks 
of  granite,  in  the  caverns  formed  by  which  hiero- 


196  MOUNTAINOUS    DISTRICT. 

glyphic  figures  are  sculptured.  Measuring  the 
breadth  of  the  Orinoco  here,  they  found  it,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  670  miles  from  the  mouth,  to  be  5700  yards, 
or  nearly  three  miles.  The  temperature  of  the 
water  at  its  surface  was  82°.  As  the  strength  of 
the  current  increased,  the  progress  of  the  boat  be- 
came much  slower,  while  at  one  time  the  woods  de- 
prived them  of  the  wind,  and  at  another  a  violent 
gust  descended  from  the  mountain-passes.  Opposite 
the  lake  of  Capanaparo,  which  communicates  with 
the  river,  the  number  of  crocodiles  was  increased. 
The  Indians  asserted  that  they  came  in  troops  to 
the  water  from  the  savannas,  where  they  lie  buried 
in  the  solid  mud  until  the  first  showers  awaken 
them.  Humboldt  remarks,  that  the  dry  season  of 
the  torrid  zone  corresponds  to  the  winter  of  the 
temperate  regions  of  the  globe  ;  and  that  while  the 
alligators  of  North  America  become  torpid  through 
excess  of  cold,  the  crocodiles  of  the  llanos  are 
reduced  to  the  same  state  through  deficiency  of 
moisture. 

They  now  entered  the  passage  of  the  Baraguan, 
where  the  Orinoco  is  hemmed  in  by  precipices  of 
granite,  forming  part  of  a  range  of  mountains 
through  which  it  has  found  or  forced  a  channel. 
Like  all  the  other  granitic  hills  which  they  observed 
on  this  river,  they  were  formed  of  enormous  cubical 
masses  piled  upon  each  other.  Landing  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  strait,  they  found  the  breadth  of  the  stream 
to  be  1895  yards.  They  looked  in  vain  for  plants  in 
the  fissures  of  the  rocks  ;  but  the  stones  were  cov- 
ered with  multitudes  of  lizards.  There  was  not  a 
breath  of  wind,  and  the  heat  was  so  intense  that  the 
thermometer  placed  against  the  rock  rose  to  122*4°. 
"  How  vivid,"  says  Humboldt,  "  is  the  impression 
which  the  noontide  quiet  of  nature  produces  in  these 
burning  climates !  The  beasts  of  the  forest  retire 
to  the  thickets,  and  the  birds  conceal  themselves 
among  the  foliage  or  in  the  crevices  of  rocks,  Yet 


INTENSE    HEAT PARARTJMA.  197 

amid  this  apparent  silence,  should  one  listen  atten- 
tively, he  hears  a  stifled  sound,  a  continued  murmur, 
ahum  of  insects,  that  fill  the  lower  strata  of  the  air. 
Nothing  is  more  adapted  to  excite  in  man  a  senti- 
ment of  the  extent  and  power  of  organic  life.  My- 
riads of  insects  crawl  on  the  ground,  and  flutter 
round  the  plants  scorched  by  the  heat  of  the  sun. 
A  confused  noise  issues  from  every  bush,  from  the 
decayed  trunks  of  the  trees,  the  fissures  of  the  rocks, 
and  from  the  ground,  which  is  undermined  by  lizards, 
millipedes,  and  blind  worms.  It  is  a  voice  proclaim- 
ing to  us  that  all  nature  breathes,  that  under  a  thou- 
sand different  forms  life  is  diffused  in  the  cracked 
and  dusty  soil,  as  in  the  bosom  of  the  waters,  and  in 
the  air  that  circulates  around  us.  The  water  of  the 
river  was  very  disagreeable  here,  as  it  had  a  musky 
smell  and  a  sweetish  taste.  In  some  parts  it  was 
pretty  good ;  but  in  others  it  seemed  loaded  with 
gelatinous  matter,  which  the  natives  attribute  to  pu- 
trified  crocodiles." 

After  sleeping  at  the  foot  of  an'  eminence  they 
continued  their  voyage,  and  passed  the  mouths  of 
several  rivers ;  and  on  the  9th  arrived,  early  in  the 
morning,  at  the  beach  of  Pararuma,  where  they 
found  an  encampment  of  Indians,  who  had  assem- 
bled to  search  the  sands  for  turtles'  eggs.  The  pilot, 
who  had  brought  them  from  San  Fernando  de  Apure, 
would  not  undertake  to  accompany  them  farther ; 
but  they  procured  a  boat  from  one  of  the  mission- 
aries who  had  come  to  the  egg-harvest. 

This  assemblage  or  encampment  afforded  to  the 
travellers  an  interesting  subject  of  study.  "  How 
difficult,"  says  Humboldt,  "  to  recognise  in  this  in- 
fancy of  society,  this  collection  of  dull,  taciturn,  and 
unimpassioned  Indians,  the  original  character  of  our 
species !  Human  nature  is  not  seen  here  arrayed 
in  that  gentle  simplicity  of  which  poets  in  every 
language  have  drawn  such  enchanting  pictures. 
The  savage  of  the  Orinoco  appeared  to  us  as  hideous 
R2 


198  ENCAMPMENT    OF    INDIANS. 

as  the  savage  of  the  Mississippi  described  by  the 
philosophical  traveller  who  best  knew  how  to  paint 
man  in  the  various  regions  of  the  globe.  One  would 
fain  persuade  himself  that  these  natives  of  the  soil, 
crouched  near  the  fire,  or  seated  on  large  shells  of 
turtles,  their  bodies  covered  with  earth  and  grease, 
and  their  eyes  stupidly  fixed  for  whole  hours  on  the 
drink  which  they  are  preparing,  far  from  being  the 
original  type  of  our  species,  are  a  degenerated  race, 
the  feeble  remains  of  nations  which,  after  being  long 
scattered  in  the  forests,  have  been  again  immersed 
in  barbarism.1" 

Red  paint  is  the  ordinary  decoration  of  these 
tribes.  The  most  common  kind  is  obtained  from 
the  seeds  of  the  Bixa  orellana,  and  is  called  anotto, 
achote,  or  roucou.  Another  much  more  expensive 
species  is  extracted  from  the  leaves  of  Bignonia 
chica.  Both  these  are  red ;  but  a  black  ingredient  is 
obtained  from  the  Genipa  Americana,  and  is  called 
caruto.  These  pigments  are  mixed  with  turtle-oil 
or  grease,  and  are  variously  applied  according  to  na- 
tional or  individual  taste.  *The  Caribs  and  Otomacs 
colour  only  the  head  and  hair,  while  the  Salivas 
smear  the  whole  body ;  but  there  prevails  in  general 
as  great  a  diversity  in  the  mode  of  staining  as  is 
found  in  Europe  in  respect  to  dress ;  and  at  Para- 
ruma  the  travellers  saw  some  Indians  painted  with  a 
blue  jacket  and  black  buttons.  Women  advanced  in 
years  are  fonder  of  being  thus  ornamented  than  the 
younger  ladies ;  and  so  expensive  is  this  mode  of 
decoration,  that  an  industrious  man  can  hardly  gain 
enough  by  the  labour  of  a  fortnight  to  adorn  himself 
with  chica,  of  which  the  missionaries  make  an  article 
of  traffic.  After  all,  the  paintings  that  cost  so  much 
are  liable  to  be  effaced  by  a  heavy  shower ;  although 
the  caruto  long  resists  the  action  of  water,  as  the 
travellers  found  by  disagreeable  experience ;  for 
having  one  day  in  sport  marked  their  faces  with 
spots  and  strokes  of  it,  it  was  not  entirely  removed 


SAGACITY    OF    THE    TITI    MONKEY.  199 

till  after  a  long  period.  It  has  been  supposed  that 
this  usage  prevents  the  Indians  from  being  stung  by 
insects ;  but  this  was  found  to  be  incorrect.  The 
preference  given  by  the  American  tribes  to  the  red 
colour,  Humboldt  supposes  to  be  owing  to  the  tend- 
ency which  nations  feel  to  attribute  the  idea  of 
beauty  to  whatever  characterizes  their  national 
complexion. 

The  encampment  of  Pararuma  also  afforded  the 
travellers  an  opportunity  of  examining  several  ani- 
mals they  had  not  before  seen  alive,  and  which  the 
Indians  brought  to  exchange  with  the  missionaries 
for  fish-hooks  and  other  necessaries.  Among  these 
specimens  were  gallitoes,  or  rock-manakins,  mon- 
keys of  different  species,  of  which  the  titi  or  Simia 
sciurea  seems  to  have  been  a  special  favourite  with 
Humboldt.  He  mentions  a  very  interesting  fact 
illustrative  of  the  sagacity  of  this  creature.  One 
which  he  had  purchased  of  the  natives  distinguished 
the  different  plates  of  a  work  on  natural  history  so 
well,  that  when  an  engraving  which  contained  zoo- 
logical representations  was  placed  before  it,  it  rapidly 
advanced  its  little  hand  to  catch  a  grasshopper  or  a 
wasp ;  which  was  the  more  remarkable  as  the 
figures  were  not  coloured.  Humboldt  observes,  that 
he  never  heard  of  any  the  most  perfect  picture  of 
hares  or  deer  producing  the  least  effect  upon  a 
hound,  and  doubts  if  there  be  a  well-ascertained  ex- 
ample of  a  dog  having  recognised  a  full-length  por- 
trait of  its  master. 

The  canoe  which  they  had  procured  was  forty- 
two  feet  long  and  three  broad.  The  missionary  of 
Atures  and  Maypures  had  offered  to  accompany 
them  as  far  as  the  frontiers  of  Brazil,  and  made  pre- 
parations for  the  voyage.  Two  Indians  who  were 
to  form  part  of  the  crew  were  chained  during  the 
night  to  prevent  their  escape  ;  and  on  the  morning 
of  the  10th  the  company  set  out.  The  vessel  was 
found  to  be  extremely  incommodious.  To  gain 


200  SCENERY. 

something  in  breadth  a  kind  of  frame  had  been  ex- 
tended over  the  gunwale  in  the  hinder  part  of  it ;  but 
the  roof  of  leaves  which  covered  it  was  so  low  that 
the  travellers  were  obliged  to  lie  down,  or  sit  nearly 
double,  while  in  rainy  weather  the  feet  were  liable 
to  be  wetted.  The  natives,  seated  two  and  two, 
were  furnished  with  paddles  three  feet  long,  and 
rowed  with  surprising  uniformity  to  the  cadence  of 
a  monotonous  and  melancholy  song.  Small  cages, 
containing  birds  and  monkeys,  were  suspended  to 
the  shed,  and  the  dried  plants  and  instruments  were 
placed  beneath  it.  To  their  numerous  inconve- 
niences was  added  the  continual  torment  of  the  mos- 
quitoes, which  they  were  unable  by  any  means  to 
alleviate.  Every  night,  when  they  established  their 
watch,  the  collection  of  animals  and  instruments 
occupied  the  centre,  around  which  were  placed  first 
their  own  hammocks,  and  then  those  of  the  Indians, 
while  fires  were  lighted  to  intimidate  the  jaguars. 
At  sunrise  the  monkeys  in  the  cages  answered  the 
cries  of  those  in  the  forests,  affording  an  affecting 
display  of  sympathy  between  the  captive  and  the 
free. 

Above  the  deserted  mission  of  Pararuma  the  river 
is  full  of  islands,  and  divides  into  several  branches. 
Its  total  breadth  is  about  6395  yards.  The  country- 
becomes  more  wooded.  A  granitic  prism,  termi- 
nated by  a  flat  surface  covered  with  a  tuft  of  trees, 
rises  to  the  height  of  213  feet  in  the  midst  of  the 
forest.  Farther  on  the  river  narrows ;  and  upon  the 
east  is  an  eminence,  on  which  the  Jesuits  formerly 
maintained  a  garrison  for  protecting  the  missions 
against  the  inroads  of  the  Caribs,  and  for  extending 
what,  in  the  Spanish  colonies,  was  called  the  con- 
quest of  souls,  which  of  course  was  effected  through 
the  conquest  of  bodies.  The  soldiers  made  incur- 
sions into  the  territories  of  the  independent  Indians, 
killed  all  who  offered  resistance,  burned  their  huts, 
destroyed  the  plantations,  and  made  prisoners  of  the 


CARICHANA INDIANS.  201 

old  men,  women,  and  children,  who  were  afterward 
divided  among  their  establishments.  The  river  again 
contracted,  and  rapids  began  to  make  their  appear- 
ance, the  shores  becoming  sinuous  and  precipitous. 
In  a  bay  between  two  promontories  of  granite,  they 
landed  at  what  is  called  the  Port  of  Carichana,  and 
proceeded  to  the  mission  of  that  name,  situated  at 
the  distance  of  two  miles  and  a  half  from  the  bank, 
where  they  were  hospitably  received  at  the  priest's 
house.  The  Christian  converts  at  this  station  were 
Salivas,  a  social  and  mild  people,  having  a  great  taste 
for  music. 

Among  these  Indians  they  found  a  white  woman, 
the  sister  of  a  Jesuit  of  New-Grenada,  and  expe- 
rienced great  pleasure  in  conversing  with  her  with- 
out the  aid  of  a  third  person.  In  every  mission, 
says  Humboldt,  there  are  at  least  two  interpreters, 
for  the  purpose  of  communicating  between  the 
monks  and  the  catechumens,  the  former  seldom 
studying  the  language  of  the  latter.  They  are  na- 
tives, somewhat  less  stupid  than  the  rest,  but  ill 
adapted  for  their  office.  They  always  attended  the 
travellers  in  their  excursions  ;  but  little  more  could 
be  got  from  them  than  a  mere  affirmation  or  nega- 
tion. Sometimes,  in  attempting  to  hold  intercourse 
with  the  Indians,  he  preferred  the  language  of  signs, — 
a  method  which  he  recommends  to  travellers,  as  the 
variety  of  languages  spoken  on  the  Meta,  Orinoco, 
Casiquiare,  and  Rio  Negro  is  so  great,  that  no  one 
could  ever  make  himself  understood  in  them  all. 

The  scenery  around  the  mission  of  Carichana  ap- 
peared delightful.  The  village  was  situated  on  a 
grassy  plain,  bounded  by  mountains.  Banks  of  rock, 
often  more  than  850  feet  in  circumference,  scarcely 
elevated  a  few  inches  above  the  savannas,  and 
nearly  destitute  of  vegetation,  give  a  peculiar  char- 
acter to  the  country.  On  these  stony  flats  they 
eagerly  observed  the  rising  vegetation  in  the  differ- 
ent stages  of  its  development :  lichens  cleaving  to  the 


202  MARKS    OF    INUNDATIONS. 

rock  and  collected  into  crusts ;  a  few  succulent  plants 
growing  among  little  portions  of  quartz-sand ;  and 
tufts  of  evergreen  shrubs  springing  up  in  the  black 
mould  deposited  in  the  hollows.  At  the  distance 
of  eight  or  ten  miles  from  the  religious  house  they 
found  a  rich  and  diversified  assemblage  of  plants, 
among  which  M.  Bonpland  obtained  numerous  new 
species.  Here  grew  the  Dipterix  odorata,  which  fur- 
nishes excellent  timber,  and  of  which  the  fruit  is 
known  in  Europe  by  the  name  of  tonkay  or  tongo 
bean. 

In  a  narrow  part  of  the  river  the  marks  of  the 
great  inundations  were  45  feet  above  the  surface ; 
but  at  various  places  black  bands  and  erosions  are 
seen,  106,  or  even  138  feet  above  the  present  highest 
increase  of  the  waters.  "  Is  this  river,  then,"  says 
Humboldt,  "  the  Orinoco,  which  appears  to  us  so  im- 
posing and  majestic,  merely  the  feeble  remnant 
of  those  immense  currents  of  fresh  water  which, 
swelled  by  alpine  snows,  or  by  more  abundant  rains, 
everywhere  shaded  by  dense  forests,  and  destitute 
of  those  beaches  which  favour  evaporation,  formerly 
traversed  the  regions  to  the  east  of  the  Andes,  like 
arms  of  inland  seas  1  What  must  then  have  been 
the  state  of  those  low  countries  of  Guiana,  which 
now  experience  the  effects  of  annual  inundations  ? 
What  a  prodigious  number  of  crocodiles,  laman- 
tines,  and  boas  must  have  inhabited  these  vast 
regions,  alternately  converted  into  pools  of  stagnant 
water  and  arid  plains  !  The  more  peaceful  world  in 
which  we  live  has  succeeded  to  a  tumultuous  world. 
Bones  of  mastodons  and  real  American  elephants 
are  found  dispersed  over  the  platforms  of  the  Andes. 
The  megatherium  inhabited  the  plains  of  Uruguay. 
By  digging  the  earth  more  deeply  in  high  valleys, 
which  at  the  present  day  are  unable  to  nourish  palms 
or  tree-ferns,  we  discover  strata  of  coal  containing 
gigantic  remains  of  monocotyledonous  plants.  There 
was  therefore  a  remote  period,  when  the  tribes  of 


THUNDER-STORM — MYSTERIOUS    SOUNDS.      203 

vegetables  were  differently  distributed;  when  the 
animals  were  larger,  the  rivers  wider  and  deeper. 
There  stop  the  monuments  of  nature  which  we  can 
consult.  We  are  ignorant  if  the  human  race,  which 
at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  America  scarcely 
presented  a  few  feeble  tribes  to  the  east  of  the  Cor- 
dilleras, had  yet  descended  into  the  plains,  or  if  the 
ancient  tradition  of  the  Great  Waters,  which  we 
find  among  all  the  races  of  the  Orinoco,  Erevato, 
and  Caura,  belong  to  other  climates,  whence  it  had 
been  transferred  to  this  part  of  the  new  continent." 
On  the  llth  they  left  Carichana  at  two  in  the 
afternoon,  and  found  the  river  more  and  more  en- 
cumbered by  blocks  of  granite.  At  the  large  rock 
known  by  the  name  of  Piedra  del  Tigre,  the  depth  is 
so  great  that  no  bottom  can  be  found  with  a  line  of 
140  feet.  Towards  evening  they  encountered  a 
thunder-storm,  which  for  a  time  drove  away  the 
mosquitoes  that  had  tormented  them  during  the  day. 
At  the  cataract  of  Cariven  the  current  was  so  rapid 
that  they  had  great  difficulty  in  landing;  but  at 
length  two  Saliva  Indians  swam  to  the  shore,  and 
drew  the  canoe  to  the  side  with  a  rope.  The  thun- 
der continued  a  part  of  the  night,  and  the  river  in- 
creased considerably.  The  granitic  rock  on  which 
they  slept  is  one  of  those  from  which  travellers  on 
the  Orinoco  have  heard  subterranean  sounds,  re- 
sembling those  of  an  organ,  emitted  about  sunrise. 
Humboldt  supposes  that  these  must  be  produced  by 
the  passage  of  rarefied  air  through  the  fissures,  and 
seems  to  think  that  the  impulse  of  the  fluid  against 
the  elastic  scales  of  mica  which  intercept  the  crev- 
ices may  contribute  to  modify  their  expression.* 

*  Many  examples  of  mysterious  sounds  produced  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances are  on  record.  In  the  autumn  of  1828,  a  recent  traveller 
crossing  the  Pyrenees,  when  in  a  wild  pass  with  the  Maladetta  moun- 
tain opposite,  heard  "a  dull,  low,  moaning,  JEolian  sound,  which  alone 
broke  upon  the  deathly  silence,  evidently  proceeding  from  the  body  of 
this  mighty  mass."  The  air  was  perfectly  calm,  and  clear  to  an  extra- 
ordinary degree  ;  no  waterfall  could  be  seen  even  with  the  aid  of  a  tele- 


204  MAJESTIC    SCENERY. 

On  the  12th  they  set  off  at  four  in  the  morning. 
The  Indians  rowed  twelve  hours  and  a  half  without 
intermission,  during  which  time  they  took  no  other 
nourishment  than  cassava  and  plantains.  The  bed 
of  the  river,  to  the  length  of  1280  yards,  was  full  of 
granite  rocks,  the  channels  between  which  were 
often  very  narrow,  insomuch  that  the  canoe  was 
sometimes  jammed  in  between  two  blocks.  When 
the  current  was  too  strong  the  sailors  leaped  out,  and 
warped  the  boat  along.  The  rocks  were  of  all  di- 
mensions, rounded,  very  dark,  glossy  like  lead,  and 
destitute  of  vegetation.  No  crocodiles  were  seen 
in  these  rapids.  The  left  bank  of  the  Orinoco,  from 
Cabruto  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Serianico,  a  dis- 
tance of  nearly  two  degrees  of  latitude,  is  entirely 
uninhabited  ;  but  to  the  westward  of  these  rapids 
an  enterprising  individual,  Don  Felix  Relinchon,  had 
formed  a  village  of  Jaruro  and  Otomac  Indians.  At 
nine  in  the  morning  they  arrived  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Meta,  which,  next  to  the  Guaviare,  is  the  largest 
river  that  joins  the  Orinoco.  At  the  union  of  these 
streams  the  scenery  is  of  a  very  impressive  charac- 
ter. Solitary  peaks  rise  on  the  eastern  side,  appear- 
ing in  the  distance  like  ruined  castles,  while  vast 
sandy  shores  intervene  between  the  bank  and  the 
forests.  They  passed  two  hours  on  a  large  rock  in 
the  middle  of  the  Orinoco,  upon  which  Humboldt 

scope,  and  no  cause  could  be  assigned  for  the  phenomenon,  unless  the 
sun's  rays,  "at  that  moment  impinging  in  all  their  glory  on  every  point 
and  peak  ot  the  snowy  heights,"  hud  some  share  "  in  vibrating  these 
mountain-chords." — JV  M.  Mag.  xxx.  341.  The  granite  statueof  Mem- 
non  is  well  known  to  have  emitted  sounds  when  the  morning  beams 
darted  upon  it ;  and  MM.  Jomard,  Jollois,  and  Devilliers  heard  a  noise 
resembling  that  of  the  breaking  of  a  string,  which  proceeded  at  sunrise 
from  a  monument  of  granite  situated  near  the  centre  of  the  spot  on 
which  stands  the  palace  of  Carnac.  Singular  sounds  have  been  heard 
from  the  interior  of  a  mountain  near  Tor,  in  Arabia  Petrsea.  They  are 
familiar  to  the  natives,  who  ascribe  them  to  a  convent  of  monks,  miracu- 
lously preserved  under  ground,  and  were  heard  by  M.  Seetzen  and  Mr. 
Gray,  the  only  European  travellers  who  have  visited  the  place.  For  an 
account  of  these  curious  phenomena,  the  reader  may  be  referred  to  Dr. 
firewater's  Letters  on  Natural  Magic,  forming  Ko.  L.  of  the  Family 
Library. 


MISSION    OF    SAN    BORJA.  205 

succeeded  in  fixing  his  instruments,  and  in  deter- 
mining the  longitude  of  the  embouchure  of  the  Meta ; 
a  river  which  will  one  day  be  of  great  political  im- 
portance to  the  inhabitants  of  Guiana  and  Venezuela, 
as  it  is  navigable  to  the  foot  of  the  Andes  of  New- 
Grenada.  Above  this  point  the  current  was  com- 
paratively free  from  shoals  ;  and  in  the  evening  they 
reached  the  rapids  of  Tabaje.  As  the  Indians 
would  not  venture  to  pass  them,  they  were  obliged 
to  land,  and  repose  on  a  craggy  platform  having  a 
slope  of  more  than  eighteen  degrees,  and  having  its 
crevices  filled  with  bats.  The  cries  of  the  jaguar 
were  heard  very  near  during  the  whole  night ;  the 
sky  was  of  a  tremendous  blackness ;  and  the  hoarse 
noise  of  the  rapids  blended  with  the  thunder  which 
rolled  at  a  distance  among  the  woods. 

Early  in  the  morning  they  cleared  the  rapids,  and 
disembarked  at  the  new  mission  of  San  Borja,  where 
they  found  six  houses  inhabited  by  uncatechised 
Guahiboes,  who  differed  in  nothing  from  the  wild 
natives.  The  faces  of  the  young  girls  were  marked 
with  black  spots.  This  people  had  not  painted  their 
bodies,  and  several  of  them  had  beards,  of  which 
they  seemed  proud,  taking  the  travellers  by  the 
chin,  and  showing  by  signs  that  they  were  like 
themselves.  In  continuing  to  ascend  the  river,  they 
found  the  heat  less  intense,  the  temperature  during 
the  day  being  79°  or  80°,  and  at  night  about  75° ; 
but  the  torment  of  the  mosquitoes  increased.  The 
crocodiles  which  they  saw  were  all  of  the  extraor- 
dinary size  of  twenty-four  or  twenty-five  feet. 

The  night  was  spent  on  the  beach ;  but  the  suffer- 
ings inflicted  by  the  flies  induced  the  travellers  to 
start  at  five  in  the  morning.  On  the  island  of  Gua- 
chaco,  where  they  stopped  to  breakfast,  they  found 
the  granite  covered  by  a  sandstone  or  conglomerate, 
containing  fragments  of  quartz  and  felspar  cemented 
by  indurated  clay,  and  exhibiting  small  veins  of 
brown  iron-ore.  Passing  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Pa- 


206  MISSION    OF  ATURES. 

rueni,  they  slept  on  the  island  of  Panumana,  which 
they  found  rich  in  plants,  and  where  they  again 
observed  the  low  shelves  of  rock  partially  coated 
with  the  vegetation  which  they  had  admired  at 
Carichana. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Voyage  up  the  Orinoco  continued. 

Mission  of  Atures— Epidemic  Fevers— Black  Crust  of  Granitic  Rocks- 
Causes  of  Depopulation  of  the  Missions — Falls  of  Apures — Scenery- 
Anecdote  of  a  Jaguar — Domestic  Animals — Wild  Man  of  the  Woods 
—Mosquitoes  and  other  poisonous  Insects— Mission  and  Cataracts  of 
Maypures — Scenery — Inhabitants — Spice-trees — San  Fernando  de  Ata- 
bapo— San  Baltasar— The  Mother's  Rock— Vegetation— Dolphins- 
San  Antonio  de  Javita— Indians— Elastic  Gum— Serpents— Portage  of 
the  Pimichin— Arrival  at  the  Rio  Negro,  a  Branch  of  the  Amazon- 
Ascent  of  the  Casiquiare 

LEAVING  the  island  of  Panumana  at  an  early  hour, 
the  navigators  continued  to  ascend  the  Orinoco,  the 
scenery  on  which  became  more  interesting  the 
nearer  they  approached  the  great  cataracts.  The 
sky  was  in  part  obscured,  and  lightnings  flashed 
among  the  dense  clouds  ;  but  no  thunder  was  heard. 
On  the  western  bank  of  the  river  they  perceived  the 
fires  of  an  encampment  of  Guahiboes,  to  intimidate 
whom  some  shots  were  discharged  by  the  direction 
of  the  missionary.  In  the  evening  they  arrived  at 
the  foot  of  the  great  fall,  and  passed  the  night  at  the 
mission  of  Atures,  in  its  neighbourhood.  The  flat 
savanna  which  surrounds  the  village  seemed  to 
Humboldt  to  have  formerly  .been  the  bed  of  the 
Orinoco. 

*  This  station  was  found  to  be  in  a  deplorable  state, 
the  Indians  having  gradually  deserted  it  until  only 


NOXIOUS  EXHALATIONS  FROM  THE  ROCKS.   207 

forty-seven  remained.  At  its  foundation  in  1748 
several  tribes  had  been  assembled,  which  subse- 
quently dispersed,  and  their  places  were  supplied 
by  the  Guahiboes,  who  belong-  to  the  lowest  grade 
of  uncivilized  society,  and  a  few  families  of  Macoes. 
The  epidemic  fevers,  which  prevail  here  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  rainy  season,  contributed  greatly 
to  the  decay  of  the  establishment.  This  distemper 
is  ascribed  to  the  violent  heats,  excessive  humidity 
of  the  air,  bad  food,  and,  as  the  natives  believe,  to 
the  noxious  exhalations  that  rise  from  the  bare  rocks 
of  the  rapids.  This  last  is  a  curious  circumstance, 
and,  as  Humboldt  remarks,  is  the  more  worthy  of 
attention  on  account  of  its  being  connected  with  a 
fact  that  has  been  observed  in  several  parts  of  the 
world,,  although  it  has  not  yet  been  sufficiently  ex- 
plained. 

Among  the  cataracts  and  falls  of  the  Orinoco,  the 
granite  rocks,  wherever  they  are  periodically  sub- 
mersed, become  smooth,  and  seem  as  if  coated  with 
black  lead.  The  crust  is  only  0*3  of  a  line  in  thick- 
ness, and  occurs  chiefly  on  the  quartzy  parts  of  the 
stone,  which  is  coarse-grained,  and  contains  solitary 
crystals  of  hornblende.  The  same  appearance  is 
presented  at  the  cataracts  of  Syene  as  well  as  those 
of  the  Congo.  This  black  deposite,  according  to 
Mr.  Children's  analysis,  consists  of  oxide  of  iron 
and  manganese,  to  which  some  experiments  of 
Humboldt  induced  him  to  add  carbon  and  super- 
carburetted  iron.  The  phenomenon  has  hitherto 
been  observed  only  in  the  torrid  zone,  in  rivers  that 
overflow  periodically  and  are  bounded  by  primitive 
rocks,  and  is  supposed  by  our  author  to  arise  from 
the  precipitation  of  substances  chymically  dissolved 
in  the  water,  and  not  from  an  eiflorescence  of  mat- 
ters contained  in  the  rocks  themselves.  The  Indians 
and  missionaries  assert,  that  the  exhalations  from 
these  rocks  are  unwholesome,  and  consider  it  dan- 
gerous to  sleep  on  grahite  near  the  river ;  and  our 


208  DEPOPULATION    OF    THE    MISSIONS. 

travellers,  without  entirely  crediting-  this  assertion, 
usually  took  care  to  avoid  the  black  rocks  at  night. 
But  the  danger  of  reposing  on  them,  Humboldt 
thinks,  may  rather  be  owing  to  the  very  great  degree 
of  warmth  they  retain  during  the  night,  which  was 
found  to  be  85'5°,  while  that  of  the  air  was  78'8°. 
In  the  day  their  temperature  was  118'4°,  and  the 
heat  which  they  emitted  was  stifling. 

Among  the  causes  of  the  depopulation  of  the 
missions,  Humboldt  mentions  the  general  insalubrity 
of  the  climate,  bad  nourishment,  want  of  proper 
treatment  in  the  diseases  of  children,  and  the  prac- 
tice of  preventing  pregnancy  by  the  use  of  dele- 
terious herbs.  Among  the  savages  of  Guiana,  when 
twins  are  produced  one  is  always  destroyed,  from 
the  idea  that  to  bring  more  than  one  at  a  time  into 
the  world  is  to  resemble  rats,  opossums,  and  the 
vilest  animals ;  and  that  two  children  born  at  once 
cannot  belong  to  the  same  father.  When  any  phy- 
sical deformity  occurs  in  an  infant,  the  father  puts 
it  to  death,  and  those  of  a  feeble  constitution  some- 
times undergo  the  same  fate,  because  the  care  which 
they  require  is  disagreeable.  "  Such,"  says  Hum- 
boldt, "  is  the  simplicity  of  manners, — the  boasted 
happiness  of  man  in  the  state  of  nature !  He  kills 
his  son  to  escape  the  ridicule  of  having  twins,  or 
to  avoid  travelling  more  slowly, — in  fact  to  avoid  a 
little  inconvenience." 

The  two  great  cataracts  of  the  Orinoco  are  formed 
by  the  passage  of  the  river  across  a  chain  of  granitic 
mountains,  constituting  part  of  the  Parime  range. 
By  the  natives  they  are  called  Mapara  and  Quittuna; 
but  the  missionaries  have  denominated  them  the 
falls  of  Atures  and  Maypures,  after  the  first  tribes 
which  they  assembled  in  the  nearest  villages.  They 
are  only  forty-one  miles  distant  from  each  other, 
and  are  not  more  than  345  miles  west  of  the  qpr- 
dilleras  of  New-Grenada.  They  divide  the  Chris- 
tian establishments  of  Spanish  Guiana  into  two  un- 


SCENERY  OF  THE  LOWER  CATARACT.    209 

equal  parts ;  those  situated  between  the  lower 
cataract,  or  that  of  Apures,  being  called  the  missions 
of  the  Lower  Orinoco,  and  those  between  the  upper 
cataract  and  the  mountains  of  Duida  being  called 
the  missions  of  the  Upper  Orinoco.  The  length  of 
the  lower  section,  including  its  sinuosities,  is  897 
miles,  while  that  of  the  upper  is  576  miles.  The 
navigation  of  the  river  extends  from  its  mouth  to 
the  point  where  it  meets  the  Anaveni  near  the  lower 
cataract,  although  in  the  upper  part  of  this  division 
there  are  rapids  which  can  be  passed  only  in  small 
boats.  The  principal  danger,  however,  is  that  which 
arises  from  natural  rafts,  consisting  of  trees  inter- 
woven with  lianas,  and  covered  with  aquatic  plants 
carried  down  by  the  current.  The  cataracts  are 
formed  by  bars  stretching  a  cross  the  bed  of  the 
river,  which  forces  its  way  through  a  break  in  the 
mountains  ;  but  beyond  this  rugged  pass  the  course 
is  again  open  for  a  length  of  more  than  576  miles. 

The  scenery  in  the  vicinity  of  the  lower  fall  is 
described  as  exceedingly  beautiful.  To  the  west  of 
Atures,  a  pyramidal  mountain,  the  Peak  of  Uniana, 
rises  from  a  plain  to  the  height  of  nearly  3200  feet. 
The  savannas,  which  are  covered  with  grasses  and 
slender  plants,  though  never  inundated  by  the  river, 
present  a  surprising  luxuriance  and  diversity  of 
vegetation.  Piles  of  granitic  blocks  rise  here  and 
there,  and  at  the  margins  of  the  plains  occur  deep 
valleys  and  ravines,  the  humid  soil  of  which  is 
covered  with  arums,  heliconias,  and  lianas.  The 
shelves  of  primitive  rocks,  scarcely  elevated  above 
the  plain,  are  partially  coated  with  lichens  and 
mosses,  together  with  succulent  plants,  and  tufts  of 
evergreen  shrubs  with  shining  leaves.  On  all  sides 
the  horizon  is  bounded  by  mountains,  overgrown 
with  forests  of  laurels,  among  which  clusters  of 
palms  rise  to  the  height  of  more  than  a  hundred 
feet,  their  slender  steins  supporting  tufts  of  feathery 
foliage.  To  the  east  of  Atures  other  mountains  ap- 
S2 


212  <  ANECDOTE    OF    A    JAGUAR. 

The  missionary  related  a  striking  instance  of  the 
familiarity  of  these  animals : — "  Two  Indian  chil- 
dren, a  boy  and  girl,  eight  or  nine  years  of  age,  were 
sitting  among  the  grass  near  the  village  of  Atures, 
in  the  midst  of  a  savanna.  It  was  two  in  the  after- 
noon when  a  jaguar  issued  from  the  forest  and  ap- 
proached the  children,  gamboling  around  them ;  some- 
times concealing  itself  among  the  long  grass,  and 
again  springing  forward,  with  his  back  curved  and 
his  head  lowered,  as  is  usual  with  our  cats.  The 
little  boy  was  unaware  of  the  danger  in  which  he 
was  placed,  and  became  sensible  of  it  only  when  the 
jaguar  struck  him  on  the  head  with  one  of  his  paws. 
The  blows  thus  inflicted  were  at  first  slight,  but 
gradually  became  ruder.  The  claws  of  the  jaguar 
wounded  the  child,  and  blood  flowed  with  violence. 
The  little  girl  then  took  up  a  branch  of  a  tree  and 
struck  the  animal,  which  fled  before  her.  The  In- 
dians, hearing  the  cries  of  the  children,  ran  up  and 
saw  the  jaguar,  which  bounded  off  without  showing 
any  disposition  to  defend  itself." — "  What,"  asks 
Humboldt,  "  meant  this  fit  of  playfulness  in  an  ani- 
mal which,  although  not  difficult  to  be  tamed  in  our 
menageries,  is  always  so  ferocious  and  cruel  in  the 
state  of  freedom  ?  If  we  choose  to  admit  that,  being 
sure  of  its  prey,  it  played  with  the  young  Indian 
as  the  domestic  cat  plays  with  a  bird,  the  wings  of 
which  have  been  clipped,  how  can  we  account  for 
the  forbearance  of  a  large  jaguar  when  pursued  by 
a  little  girl?  If  the  jaguar  was  not  pressed  by  hun- 
ger, why  should  it  have  gone  up  to  the  children  1 
There  are  mysteries  in  the  affections  and  hatreds 
of  animals.  We  have  seen  lions  kill  three  or  four 
dogs  which  were  put  into  their  cage,  and  instantly 
caress  another  which  had  the  courage  to  seize  the 
royal  beast  by  the  mane.  Man  is  ignorant  of  the 
sources  of  these  instincts.  It  would  seem  that 
weakness  inspires  more  interest  the  more  confiding 
it  is." 


WILD    HOGS— MONKEYS MOSQUITOES.          213 

The  cattle  introduced  by  the  Jesuits  had  entirely 
disappeared ;  but  the  Indians  rear  the  common  pig 
and  another  kind  peculiar  to  America,  and  known  in 
Europe  by  the  name  of  pecari.  A  third  species  of 
hog,  the  apida,  which  is  of  a  dark-brown  colour, 
wanders  in  large  herds  composed  of  several  hun- 
dreds. M.  Bonpland,  when  upon  a  botanical  excur- 
sion, saw  a  drove  of  these  animals  pass  near  him. 
It  marched  in  a  close  body ;  the  males  before,  and 
each  sow  accompanied  by  her  young.  The  natives 
kill  them  with  small  lances  tied  to  cords.  At  the 
mission  they  saw  a  monkey  of  a  new  species,  which 
had  been  brought  up  in  captivity,  and  which  every 
day  seized  a  pig  in  the  court-yard,  and  remained  upon 
it  from  morning  to  night,  in  all  its  wanderings  in  the 
savannas.  Here,  for  the  first  time,  they  heard  of 
the  hairy  man  of  the  woods,  a  large  animal  of  the 
ape  kind,  which,  according  to  report,  carries  off 
women,  builds  huts,  and  sometimes  eats  human 
flesh.  In  all  his  travels  in  America,  Humboldt  found 
no  traces  of  a  large  anthropomorphous  monkey,  al- 
though in  several  places,  very  distant  from  each 
other,  he  heard  similar  accounts  of  it. 

Flies  of  various  kinds  unceasingly  tormented  the 
travellers ;  mosquitoes  and  simulia  by  day,  and  zan- 
cudoes  by  night.  The  missionary,  observing  that 
the  insects  were  more  abundant  in  the  lowest  stra- 
tum of  the  atmosphere,  had  constructed  near  the 
church  a  small  apartment  supported  upon  palm- 
trunks,  to  which  they  retired  in  the  evening  to  dry 
their  plants  and  write  their  journals.*  At  Maypures 

*  A  similar  expedient  was  tried  by  a  British  officer  who  had  joined  the 
insurgents  under  Bolivar,  in  1818.  "These  insects""  (the  mosquitoes), 
says  he,  "  do  not  rise  high  in  the  air,  but  are  generated  and  remain  near 
the  wet  bank  of  the  river.  I  found  a  tree  in  the  neighbourhood,  which  I 
ascended  nearly  to  its  top  with  a  cord.  This  I  attached  firmly  to  the 
branches,  and  then  fixed  it  round  rne,  so  that  I  could  riot  fall,  but  sit  with 
safety,  although  not  with  much  comfort.  It  was,  however,  with  me 
here  as  with  many  in  various  situations  in  life — I  could  estimate  the  nature 
and  extent  of  my  pleasures  and  my  difficulties  merely  by  comparison  ; 
and,  certainly,  although  the  being  tied  to  the  top  of  a  tree  us  a  sleeping- 


214  MOSQUITOES. 

the  Indians  leave  the  village  at  night,  and  sleep  on 
the  little  islands  in  the  midst  of  the  cataracts,  where 
the  insects  are  less  numerous.     Humboldt  gives  an 
elaborate  account  of  these  creatures,  of  which,  how- 
ever, the  most  interesting  particulars  alone  can  be 
here  extracted.     In  the  missions  of  the  Orinoco, 
when  two  persons  meet  in  the  morning,  the  first 
questions  are,  "  How  did  you  find  the   zancudoes 
during  the  night  ?     How  are  we  to-day  for  the  mos- 
quitoes ?"     The  plague  of  these  animals,  however, 
is  not  so  general  in  the  torrid  zone  as  is  commonly 
believed.     On  the  table-lands  that  have  an  elevation 
of  more  than  2558  feet,  and  in  very  dry  plains  at  a 
distance  from  rivers,  they  are  not  more  numerous 
than  in  Europe  ;  but  along  the  valleys,  as  well  as  in 
moist  places  on  the  coast,  they  continually  harass 
the  traveller ;  the  lower  stratum  of  air,  to  the  height 
of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet,  being  filled  with  a  cloud  of 
venomous  insects.     It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance 
that  on  the  streams,  the  water  of  which  is  of  a  yel- 
lowish-brown colour,  the  tipulary  flies  do  not  make 
their  appearance.     Not  less  astonishing  is  the  fact, 
that  the  different  kinds  do  not  associate  together; 
but  that  at  certain  hours  of  the  day,  distinct  species, 
as  the  missionaries  say,  mount  guard.     From  half 
after  six  in  the  morning  till  five  in  the  afternoon  the 
air  is  filled  with  mosquitoes,  which  are  of  the  genus 
Simulium,  and  resemble  a  common  fly.     An  hour 
before  sunset  small  gnats,  called  tempraneroes,  suc- 
ceed  them,  to  disappear  between  six  and   seven; 
after  which  zancudoes,  a  species  of  gnat  with  very 
long  legs,  come  abroad  and  continue  until  near  sun- 
rise, when  the  former  again  take  their  turn.     Per- 
sons born  in  the  country,  whether  whites,  mulattoes, 
negroes,  or  Indians,  all  suffer  from  the  sting  of  these 

place  was  not  very  agreeable,  it  was  far  preferable  to  being  among  swarms 
of  hungry  mosquitoes  where  I  had  previously  lodged.  I  enjoyed  several 
hours'  sleep,  and  awoke  considerably  refreshed." — Robinson's  Journal 
of  an  Expedition  up  the  Orinoco  and  Arauca, 


PASSAGE    OF    THE    CATARACTS.  215 

insects,  although  not  so  severely  as  recently-arrived 
Europeans. 

The  travellers,  after  remaining  two  days  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  cataract  of  Atures,  proceeded  on  the 
17th  to  rejoin  their  canoe,  already  conducted  by 
eight  Indians  of  the  mission  through  the  rapids,  and 
reached  it  about  eleven  in  the  morning,  accompanied 
by  Father  Zea,  who  had  procured  a  small  stock  of 
provisions,  consisting  of  plantains,  cassava,  and 
fowls.  The  river  was  now  free  from  shoals ;  and 
after  a  few  hours  they  passed  the  rapids  of  Garcita, 
and  perceived  numerous  small  holes  at  an  elevation 
of  more  than  190  feet  above  the  level  of  the  current, 
which  appeared  to  have  been  caused  by  the  erosion 
of  the  waters.  The  night  was  spent  in  the  open  air, 
on  the  left  bank. 

On  the  18th  they  set  out  at  three  in  the  morning, 
and  near  five  in  the  afternoon  reached  the  Raudal 
des  Guahiboes,  on  the  dike  of  which  they  landed 
while  the  Indians  were  drawing  up  the  boat.  The 
gneiss  rock  exhibited  circular  holes,  produced  by 
the  friction  of  pebbles,  in  one  of  which  they  prepared 
a  beverage  consisting  of  water,  sugar,  and  the  juice 
of  acid  fruits,  for  the  purpose  of  allaying  the  thirst 
of  the  missionary,  who  was  seized  by  a  fever  fit ; 
after  which  they  had  the  pleasure  of  bathing  in  a 
quiet  place  in  the  midst  of  the  cataracts.  After  an 
I  hour's  delay,  the  boat  having  been  got  up,  they  re- 
embarked  their  instruments  and  provisions.  The 
river  was  1705  yards  broad,  and  had  to  be  crossed 
obliquely,  at  a  part  where  the  waters  rushed  with 
extreme  rapidity  towards  the  bar  over  which  they 
were  precipitated.  In  the  midst  of  this  dangerous 
navigation  they  were  overtaken  by  a  thunder-storm 
accompanied  by  torrents  of  rain ;  and  after  rowing 
twenty  minutes  found  that  so  far  from  having  made 
progress  they  were  approaching  the  fall.  But,  as 
the  Indians  redoubled  their  efforts,  the  danger  was 
escaped,  and  the  boat  arrived  at  nightfall  in  the  port  of 


216  MISSION    OF    MAYPURES. 

Maypures.  The  night  was  extremely  dark,  and  the 
village  was  at  a  considerable  distance ;  still,  as  the 
missionary  caused  copal-torches  to  be  lighted,  they 
proceeded.  As  the  rain  ceased  the  zaricudoes  re- 
appeared, and  the  flambeaux  being  extinguished, 
they  had  to  grope  their  way.  One  of  their  fellow- 
travellers,  Don  Nicolas  Soto,  slipped  from  a  round 
trunk  on  which  he  attempted  to  cross  a  gully,  but 
fortunately  received  no  injury.  To  add  to  their 
distress,  the  pilot  talked  incessantly  of  venomous 
snakes,  water- serpents,  and  tigers.  On  their  arrival 
at  the  mission  they  found  the  inhabitants  immersed 
in  profound  sleep,  and  nothing  was  heard  but  the 
cries  of  nocturnal  birds  and  the  distant  roar  of  the 
cataract. 

At  the  village  of  Maypures  they  remained  three 
days,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the  neighbour- 
hood. The  cataract,  called  by  the  Indians  Quittuna, 
is  formed  by  an  archipelago  of  islands,  filling  the 
bed  of  the  river  to  the  length  of  6395  yards,  and  by 
dikes  of  rock  which  occasionally  join  them  together. 
The  largest  of  these  shelves  or  bars  are  at  Purima- 
rimi,  Manimi,  and  the  Salto  de  la  Sardina ;  the  last 
of  which  is  about  nine  feet  high.  To  obtain  a  full 
view  of  the  falls  the  travellers  frequently  ascended 
the  eminence  of  Manimi,  a  granitic  ridge  rising  from 
the  savanna,  to  the  north  of  the  church.  "  When 
one  attains  the  summit  of  the  rock,"  says  Humboldt, 
"he  suddenly  sees  a  sheet  of  foam  a  mile  in  extent. 
Enormous  masses  of  rock,  of  an  iron  blackness, 
emerge  from  its  bosom,  some  of  a  mammillar  form, 
and  grouped  like  basaltic  hills ;  others  resembling 
towers,  castles,  and  ruins.  Their  dark  colour  con- 
trasts with  the  silvery  whiteness  of  the  foam. 
Every  rock  and  islet  is  covered  with  tufts  of  stately 
trees.  From  the  base  of  these  prominences,  as  far 
as  the  eye  ean  reach,  there  hangs  over  the  river  a 
dense  mist,  through  which  the  tops  of  majestic  palms 
are  seen  to  penetrate.  At  every  hour  of  the  day  this 


UPPER   CATARACT.  217 

sheet  of  foam  presents  a  different  aspect.  Some- 
times the  mountain  isles  and  palms  project  their  long 
shadows  over  it ;  sometimes  the  rays  of  the  setting 
sun  are  refracted  in  the  humid  cloud  that  covers  the 
cataract,  when  coloured  arches  form,  vanish,  and 
reappear  by  turns." 

The  mountain  of  Manimi  forms  the  eastern  limit 
of  a  plain,  which  presented  the  same  appearance  as 
that  of  Atures.  Towards  the  west  is  a  level  space 
formerly  occupied  by  the  waters  of  the  river,  and 
exhibiting-  rocks  similar  to  the  islands  of  the  cata- 
racts. These  masses  are  also  crowned  with  palms ; 
and  one  of  them,  called  Keri,  is  celebrated  in  the 
country  for  a  white  spot,  which  Humboldt  supposed 
to  be  a  large  nodule  of  quartz.  In  an  islet  amid 
the  rush  of  waters  there  is  a  similar  spot.  The 
Indians  view  them  with  a  mysterious  interest,  be- 
lieving they  see  in  the  former  the  image  of  the  moon, 
and  in  the  "latter  that  of  the  sun. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  mission  were  Guahiboes 
and  Macoes.  In  the  time  of  the  Jesuits  the  number 
was  six  hundred,  but  it  had  gradually  fallen  to  less 
than  sixty.  They  are  represented  as  gentle,  tem- 
perate, and  cleanly.  They  cultivate  plantains  and 
cassava,  and>  like  most  of  the  Indians  of  the  Orinoco, 
prepare  nourishing  drinks  from  the  fruits  of  palms 
and  other  plants.  Some  of  them  were  occupied  in 
manufacturing  a  coarse  pottery.  Cattle,  and  espe- 
cially goats,  had  at  one  time  multiplied  considerably 
at  Maypures  ;  but  at  the  period  of  Humboldt's  visit 
none  were  to  be  seen  in  any  mission  of  the  Orinoco. 
Tame  macaws  were  seen  round  the  huts,  and  fly- 
ing in  the  fields  like  pigeons.  Their  plumage  being 
of  the  most  vivid  tints  of  purple,  blue,  and  yellow, 
these  birds  are  a  great  ornament  to  the  Indian  farm- 
yards. 

Round  the  village  there  grows  a  majestic  tree  of 
the  genus  Unona,  with  straight  branches  rising  in  the 
form  of  a  pyramid.    The  infusion  of  the  aromatic 
T 


218          PASSAGE    OF    THE    UPPER    CATARACT. 

fruit  is  a  powerful  febrifuge,  and  is  used  as  such  in 
preference  to  the  astringent  bark  of  the  cinchona  or 
Bonplandia  trifoliata. 

The  longitude  of  this  place  was  found  to  be  68° 
IT  9",  the  latitude  5°  13'  57"  ;  differing  from  the  best 
maps  then  existing  by  half  a  degree  of  longitude  and 
as  much  of  latitude.  The  thermometer  during  the 
night  indicated  from  80°  to  84°,  and  in  the  day  86°. 
The  water  of  the  river  was  81.7°,  and  that  of  a 
spring  82°. 

Having  spent  some  days  at  the  mission  of  May- 
pures,  the  travellers  embarked  at  two  in  the  after- 
noon in  the  canoe  procured  at  the  turtle  island, 
which,  although  considerably  damaged  by  the  care- 
lessness of  the  Indians,  was  judged  sufficient  for  the 
long  voyage  they  had  yet  to  perform.  Above  the 
great  cataracts  they  found  themselves,  as  it  were,  in  a 
new  world.  Towards  the  east,  in  the  extreme  dis- 
tance, rose  the  great  chain  of  the  Cimavami  moun- 
tains, one  of  the  peaks  of  which,  named  Calida- 
mini,  reflects  at  sunset  a  reddrsh  glare  of  light. 
After  encountering  one  more  rapid  they  entered 
upon  smooth  water,  and  passed  the  night  on  a  rocky 
island. 

On  the  22d  they  set  out  at  an  early  hour.  The 
morning  was  damp  but  delicious,  and  not  a  breath  of 
wind  was  felt  ;  a  perpetual  calm  reigning  to  the 
south  of  the  cataracts,  which  Humboldt  attributes 
to  the  windings  of  the  rivers,  the  shelter  of  moun- 
tains, and  the  almost  incessant  rains.  In  the  valley 
of  the  Amazon,  on  the  contrary,  a  strong  breeze 
rises  every  day  at  two  in  the  afternoon,  which,  how- 
ever, is  felt  only  along  the  line  of  the  current.  It 
always  moves  against  the  stream,  and  by  means  of 
it  a  boat  may  go  up  the  Amazon  under  sail  a  length 
of  2590  miles.  The  great  salubrity  of  this  district 
is  probably  owing  to  the  gale.  They  passed  the 
mouths  of  several  streams,  and  admired  the  gran- 
deur of  the  cerros  of  Lipapo,  a  branch  of  the  cordil- 


SCENERY    OF    THE    UPPER    ORINOCO.  219 

lera  of  Parime,  the  aspect  of  which  varied  every 
hour  of  the  day.  At  sunrise,  the  dense  vegetation 
with  which  they  are  covered  was  tinged  with  a  dark- 
green  inclining  to  brown,  while  broad  and  deep 
shadows  were  projected  over  the  neighbouring  plain, 
forming  a  strong  contrast  with  the  vivid  light  diffused 
around.  Towards  noon  the  shadows  disappeared, 
and  the  whole  group  was  veiled  in  an  azure  vapour, 
which  softened  the  outlines  of  the  rocks,  moderated 
the  effects  of  light,  and  gave  the  landscape  an  aspect 
of  calmness  and  repose.  Landing  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Rio  Vichada  to  examine  the  vegetation,  they 
found  numberless  small  granitic  rocks  rising  from 
the  plain,  and  presenting  the  appearance  of  prisms, 
ruined  columns,  and  towers.  The  forest  was  thin, 
and  at  the  confluence  of  the  two  rivers  the  rocks 
and  even  the  soil  were  covered  with  mosses  and 
lichens.  M.  Bonpland  found  several  specimens  of 
Laurus  cinnamomoides,  a  very  aromatic  species  of 
cinnamon,  which,  together  with  the  American  nut- 
meg, the  pimento,  and  Laurus  pucheri,  Humboldt  re- 
marks, would  have  become  important  objects  of  trade, 
had  not  Europe,  at  the  period  when  the  New  World 
was  discovered,  been  already  accustomed  to  the 
spices  of  India.  The  travellers  rested  at  night  on 
the  bank  of  the  Orinoco,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Zama. 
This  river  is  one  of  those  which  are  said  to  have  black 
water,  as  it  appears  of  a  dark-brown  or  greenish- 
black  ;  and  here  they  entered  the  system  of  rivers 
to  which  the  name  of  Aguas  Negras  is  given.  The 
colour  is  supposed  to  be  owing  to  a  solution  of  ve- 
getable matter,  and  the  Indians  attribute  it  to  the 
roots  of  sarsaparilla. 

At  five  in  the  morning  of  the  23d  they  continued 
their  voyage,  and  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Ma- 
taveni.  The  banks  were  still  skirted  by  forests,  but 
the  mountains  on  the  east  retired  farther  back.  The 
traces  left  by  the  floods  were  not  higher  than  eight 
feet.  At  the  place  where  they  passed  the  night, 


220        SAN  FERNANDO  DE  ATABIPO. 

multitudes  of  bats  issued  from  the  crevices,  and 
hovered  around  their  hammocks.  Next  day  a  violent 
rain  obliged  them  to  set  out  at  a  very  early  hour. 
In  the  afternoon  they  landed  at  the  Indian  planta- 
tions of  San  Fernando,  and  after  midnight  arrived  at 
the  mission,  where  they  were  received  with  the  kind- 
est hospitality. 

The  village  of  San  Fernando  de  Atabipo  is  situated 
near  the  confluence  of  the  Orinoco,  the  Atabipo,  and 
the  Guaviare ;  the  latter  of  which  Humboldt  thinks 
might  with  more  propriety  be  considered  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  Orinoco  than  a  branch.  The  num- 
ber of  inhabitants  did  not  exceed  226.  The  mission- 
ary had  the  title  of  president  of  the  stations  on  the 
Orinoco,  and  superintended  the  twenty-six  ecclesias- 
tics settled  on  its  banks,  as  well  as  on  those  of  the 
Rio  Negro,  Casiquiare,  Atabipo,  and  Caura.  The 
Indians  were  a  little  more  civilized  than  the  inmates 
of  the  other  establishments,  and  cultivated  cacao  in 
small  quantities,  together  with  cassava  and  plantains. 
They  were  surrounded  with  good  pasturage,  but  not 
more  than  seven  or  eight  cows  were  to  be  seen. 
The  most  striking  object  in  the  neighbourhood  was 
the-  pirijao  palm,  which  has  a  thorny  trunk  more  than 
sixty-four  feet  high,  pinnated  leaves,  and  clusters  of 
fruits  two  or  three  inches  in  diameter,  and  of  a  pur- 
ple colour.  The  fruit  furnishes  a  farinaceous  sub- 
stance, of  a  colour  resembling  that  of  the  yelk  of  an 
egg,  which  when  boiled  or  roasted  affords  a  very 
wholesome  and  agreeable  aliment. 

On  entering  the  Rio  Atabipo  the  travellers  found 
a  great  change  in  the  scenery,  the  colour  of  the 
stream,  and  the  constitution  of  the  atmosphere.  The 
trees  were  of  a  different  species ;  the  mosquitoes  had 
entirely  disappeared,  and  the  waters,  instead  of  being 
turbid,  and  loaded  with  earthy  matter,  were  of  a 
dark  colour,  clear,  agreeable  to  the  taste,  and  two 
degrees  cooler.  So  great  is  their  transparency,  that 
the  smallest  fishes  are  distinguishable  at  the  depth 


THE    PIEDRA    PE    LA    MADRE.  221 

of  twenty  or  thirty  feet,  and  the  bottom,  which  con- 
sists of  white  quartzy  sand,  is  usually  visible.  The 
banks  covered  with  plants,  among  which  rise  nume- 
rous palms,  are  reflected  by  the  surface  of  the  river 
with  a  vividness  almost  as  bright  as  that  of  the  ob- 
jects themselves.  Above  the  mission  no  crocodiles 
occur,  but  their  place  is  supplied  by  bavas  and  fresh- 
water dolphins.  The  chiguires,  howling-monkeys 
and  zamuro-vultures  had  disappeared,  though  jaguars 
were  still  seen,  and  the  water-snakes  were  extremely 
numerous. 

On  the  26th  the  travellers  advanced  only  two  or 
three  leagues,  and  passed  the  night  on  a  rock  near 
the  Indian  plantations  of  Guapasoso.  At  two  in 
the  morning  they  again  set  out,  and  continued  to 
ascend  the  river.  About  noon  they  passed  the  gra- 
nitic rock  named  Piedra  del  Tigre,  and  at  the  close 
of  the  day  had  great  difficulty  in  finding  a  suitable 
place  for  sleeping,  owing  to  the  inundation  of  the 
banks.  It  rained  hard  from  sunset,  and  as  the  mis- 
sionary had  a  fit  of  tertian  fever  they  re-embarked 
immediately  after  midnight.  At  dawn  they  landed 
to  examine  a  gigantic  ceiba-tree,  which  was  nearly 
128  feet  in  height,  with  a  diameter  of  fifteen  or  six- 
teen feet.  On  the  29th  the  air  was  cooler,  but  loaded 
with  vapours,  and  the  current  being  strong  they  ad- 
vanced slowly.  It  was  night  when  they  arrived 
at  the  mission  of  San  Baltasar,  where  they  lodged 
with  a  Catalan  priest,  a  lively  and  agreeable  per- 
son. The  village  was  built  with  great  regularity,  and 
the  plantations  seemed  better  cultivated  than  else- 
where. 

At  a  late  hour  in  the  morning  they  left  his  abode, 
and  after  ascending  the  Atabipo  for  five  miles  en- 
tered the  Rio  Temi.  A  granitic  rock  on  the  west- 
ern bank  of  the  former  river  attracted  their  atten- 
tion. It  is  called  the  Piedra  de  la  Guahiba  or 
Piedra  de  la  Madre,  and  commemorates  one  of  those 
acts  of  oppression  of  which  Europeans  are  guilty  in 
T3 


222  ANECDOTE    OF   AN   INDIAN    WOMAN. 

all  countries  whenever  they  come  into  contact  with 
savages.  In  1797,  the  missionary  of  San  Fernando 
had  led  his  people  to  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Gua- 
viare  on  a  hostile  excursion.  In  an  Indian  hut  they 
found  a  Guahibo  woman,  with  three  children,  occu- 
pied in  preparing  cassava-flour.  She  and  her  little 
ones  attempted  to  escape,  but  were  seized  and  carried 
away.  The  unhappy  female  repeatedly  fled  with  her 
children  from  the  village,  but  was  always  traced  by 
her  Christian  countrymen.  At  length  the  friar,  after 
causing  her  to  be  severely  beaten,  resolved  to  sepa- 
rate her  from  her  family,  and  sent  her  up  the  Atabipo 
towards  the  missions  of  the  Rio  Negro.  Ignorant 
of  the  fate  intended  for  her,  but  judging  by  the  di- 
rection of  the  sun  that  her  persecutors  were  carry- 
ing her  far  from  her  native  country,  she  burst  her 
fetters,  leaped  from  the  boat,  and  swam  to  the  left 
bank  of  the  river.  She  landed  on  a  rock  ;  but  the 
president  of  the  establishment  ordered  the  Indians 
to  row  to  the  shore  and  lay  hands  on  her.  She  was 
brought  back  in  the  evening,  stretched  upon  the  bare 
stone  (the  Piedra  de  la  Madre),  scourged  with  straps 
of  manatee  leather,  which  are  the  ordinary  whips  of 
the  country,  and  then  dragged  to  the  mission  of  Ja- 
vita,  her  hands  bound  behind  her  back.  It  was  the 
rainy  season,  the  night  was  excessively  dark,  forests 
believed  to  be  impenetrable  stretched  from  that  sta- 
tion to  San  Fernando  over  an  extent  of  86  miles,  and 
the  only  communication  between  these  places  was  by 
the  river ;  yet  the  Guahibo  mother,  breaking  her 
bonds,  and  eluding  the  vigilance  of  her  guards, 
escaped  under  night,  and  on  the  fourth  morning  was 
seen  at  the  village,  hovering  around  the  hut  which 
contained  her  children.  On  this  journey  she  must 
have  undergone  hardships  from  which  the  most  ro- 
bust man  would  have  shrunk ;  was  forced  to  live  upon 
ants,  to  swim  numerous  streams,  and  to  make  her 
way  through  thickets  and  thorny  lianas.  And  the 
reward  of  all  this  courage  and  devotion  was — her 


ASCENT    OF    THE    RIO    TEMI.  223 

removal  to  one  of  the  missions  of  the  Upper  Ori- 
noco, where,  despairing  of  ever  seeing  her  beloved 
children,  and  refusing  all  kind  of  nourishment,  she 
died,  a  victim  to  the  bigotry  and  barbarity  of  wretches 
blasphemously  calling  themselves  the  ministers  of  a 
religion  which  inculcates  universal  benevolence. 

Above  the  mouth  of  the  Guasucavi  4he  travellers 
entered  the  Rio  Temi,  which  runs  from  south  to 
north.  The  ground  was  flat  and  covered  with  trees, 
over  which  rose  the  pirijao  palm  with  its  clusters  of 
peach-like  fruits,  and  the  Mauritia  aculeata,  with  fan- 
shaped  leaves  pointing  downwards,  and  marked  with 
concentric  circles  of  blue  and  green.  Wherever  the 
river  forms  sinuosities  the  forest  is  flooded  to  a  great 
extent ;  and,  to  shorten  the  route,  the  boat  frequently 
pushed  through  the  woods  along  open  avenues  of 
water  four  or  five  feet  broad.  An  Indian  furnished 
with  a  large  knife  stood  at  the  bow  continually  cut- 
ting the  branches  which  obstructed  the  passage.  In 
the  thickest  part  of  it  a  shoal  of  fresh-water  dolphins 
issued  from  beneath  the  trees  and  surrounded  the 
vessel.  At  five  in  the  evening  the  travellers,  after 
sticking  for  some  time  between  two  trunks,  and  ex- 
periencing great  difficulties,  regained  the  proper 
channel,  and  passed  the  night  near  one  of  the  co- 
lumnar masses  of  granite  which  occasionally  protrude 
from  the  level  surface. 

Setting  out  before  daybreak,  they  remained  in  the 
bed  of  the  river  till  sunrise,  when,  to  avoid  the  force 
of  the  current,  they  again  entered  the  inundated 
forest ;  and  soon  arriving  at  the  junction  of  the  Temi 
with  the  Tuamini,  they  followed  the  latter  towards 
the  south-west.  At  eleven  they  reached  San  Anto- 
nio de  Javita,  where  they  had  the  pleasure  of  finding 
a  very  intelligent  and  agreeable  monk :  though  they 
were  obliged  to  remain  nearly  a  week,  while  the 
boat  was  carried  by  land  to  the  Rio  Negro.  For 
two  days  the  travellers  had  felt  an  extraordinary 
irritation  on  the  joints  of  the  fingers  and  on  the  back 


224  MISSION   OF    SAN   ANTONIO. 

of  the  hands,  which  the  missionary  informed  them 
was  caused  by  insects.  Nothing  could  be  distin- 
guished with  a  lens  but  parallel  streaks  of  a  whitish 
colour,  the  form  of  which  has  obtained  for  these  ani- 
malculae  the  name  of  aradores,  or  ploughmen.  A 
mulatto  woman  engaged  to  extirpate  them  one  by 
one,  and,  digging  with  a  small  bit  of  pointed  wood, 
at  length  succeeded  in  extracting  a  little  round  bag ; 
but  Humboldt  did  not  possess  sufficient  patience  to 
wait  for  relief  from  so  tedious  an  operation.  Next 
day,  however,  an  Indian  effected  a  radical  cure  by 
means  of  the  infusion  of  bark  stripped  from  a  cer- 
tain shrub. 

In  1755,  before  the  expedition  to  the  boundaries, 
the  country  between  the  missions  of  Javita  and  San 
Baltasar  was  dependent  on  Brazil,  and  the  Portu- 
guese had  advanced  from  the  Rio  Negro  as  far  as 
the  banks  of  the  Temi.  An  Indian  chief,  named 
Javita,  one  of  their  auxiliaries,  pushed  his  hostile 
excursions  to  a  distance  of  more  than  345  miles ; 
and,  being  furnished  with  a  patent  for  drawing  the 
natives  from  the  forest  "  for  the  conquest  of  souls," 
did  not  fail  to  make  use  of  it  for  selling  slaves  to 
his  allies.  When  Solano,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
expedition  just  described,  arrived  at  San  Fernando 
de  Atabipo,  he  seized  the  adventurer,  and  by  treat- 
ing him  with  gentleness  gained  him  over  to  the  in- 
terests of  the  Spaniards.  He  was  still  living  when 
the  travellers  proceeded  to  the  Rio  Negro ;  and,  as  he 
attended  them  on  all  their  botanical  excursions,  they 
obtained  much  information  from  him.  He  assured 
them,  that  he  had  seen  almost  all  the  Indian  tribes 
which  inhabit  the  vast  countries  between  the  Upper 
Orinoco,  the  Rio  Negro,  the  Irinida,  and  the  Jupura 
devour  human  flesh.  Their  cannibalism  he  consid- 
ered as  the  effect  of  a  system  of  revenge,  as  they 
eat  only  enemies  who  are  made  prisoners  in  battle. 

The  climate  of  the  mission  of  San  Antonio  de 
Javita  is  so  rainy  that  the  sun  and  stars  are  seldom 


GIGANTIC    TREES ELASTIC    GUM.  225 

to  be  seen,  and  the  padre  informed  the  travellers 
that  it  sometimes  rained  without  intermission  for 
four  or  five  months.  The  water  that  fell  in  five 
hours  on  the  1st  of  May,  Humboldt  found  to  be  21 
lines  in  height,  and  on  the  3d  of  'May  he  collected 
14  lines  in  three  hours ;  whereas  at  Paris  there  fall 
only  28  or  30  lines  in  as  many  weeks.  The  tem- 
perature is  lower  than  at  Maypures,  but  higher  than 
on  the  Rio  Negro ;  the  thermometer  standing  at  80° 
or  80-6°  by  day,  and  at  69'8°  by  night. 

The  Indians  of  the  mission  amounted  only  to  160. 
Some  of  them  were  employed  in  the  construction 
of  boats,  which  are  formed  of  the  trunks  of  a  species 
of  laurel  (Ocotea  cymbarum),  hollowed  by  means  of 
fire  and  the  axe.  These  trees  attain  a  height  of 
more  than  a  hundred  feet,  and  have  a  yellow  resin- 
ous wood,  which  emits  an  agreeable  odour.  The 
forest  between  Javita  and  Pimichin  affords  an  im- 
mense quantity  of  gigantic  timber,  as  tall  occasion- 
ally as  116  or  117  feet;  but  as  the  trees  give  out 
branches  only  towards  the  summit,  the  travellers 
were  disappointed,  amid  so  great  a  profusion  of  un- 
known species,  in  not  being  able  to  procure  the 
leaves  and  flowers.  Besides,  as  it  rained  incessantly 
so  long  a  time,  M.  Bonpland  lost  the  greater  part  of 
his  dried  specimens.  Although  no  pines  or  firs  oc- 
cur in  these  woods,  balsams,  resins,  and  aromatic 
gums  are  abundantly  furnished  by  many  other  trees, 
and  are  collected  as  objects  of  trade  by  the  people 
of  Javita. 

At  the  mission  of  San  Baltasar  they  had  seen  the 
natives  preparing  a  kind  of  elastic  gum,  which  they 
said  was  found  under  ground;  and  in  the  forests 
at  Javita,  the  old  Indian  who  accompanied  them 
showed  that  it  was  obtained  by  digging  several  feet 
deep  among  the  roots  of  two  particular  trees,  the 
Hevea  of  Aublet  and  one  with  pinnate  leaves.  This 
substance,  which  bears  the  name  of  dapicho,  is  white, 
corky,  and  brittle,  with  a  laminated  structure  and 


226  NATIVE    INDIANS. 

undulating  edges ;  but  on  being  roasted,  it  assumes 
a  black  colour,  and  acquires  the  properties  of  caout- 
chouc. 

The  natives  of  these  countries  live  in  hordes  of 
forty  or  fifty,  and  unite  under  a  common  chief  only 
when  they  wage  war  with  their  neighbours.  As  the 
different  tribes  speak  different  languages  they  have 
little  communication.  They  cultivate  cassava,  plan- 
tains, and  sometimes  maize ;  but  shift  from  place  to 
place,  so  that  they  entirely  lose  the  advantages  re- 
sulting in  other  countries  from  agricultural  habits. 
They  have  two  great  objects  of  worship, — the  good 
principle,  Cachimana,  who  regulates  the  seasons 
and  favours  the  harvests ;  and  the  evil  principle,  Jo- 
lokiamo,  less  powerful,  but  more  active  and  artful. 
They  have  no  idols ;  but  the  botuto,  or  sacred  trum- 
pet, is  an  object  of  veneration,  the  initiation  into 
the  mysteries  of  which  requires  pure  manners  and 
a  single  life.  Women  are  not  permitted  to  see  it, 
and  are  excluded  from  all  the  ceremonies  of  this 
religion. 

It  took  the  Indians  more  than  four  days  to  drag 
the  boat  upon  rollers  to  the  Rio  Pimichin.  One  of 
them,  a  tall  strong  man,  was  bitten  by  a  snake,  and 
was  brought  to  the  mission  in  a  very  alarming  con- 
dition. He  had  dropped  down  senseless,  and  was 
afterward  seized  with  nausea,  vertigo,  and  a  deter- 
mination of  blood  to  the  head,  but  was  cured  by  an 
infusion  of  raiz  de  mato ;  respecting  the  plant  fur- 
nishing which  Humboldt  could  obtain  no  satisfactory 
information,  although  he  supposes  it  to  be  of  the 
family  of  Apocyneae.  In  the  hut  of  this  individual 
he  observed  balls  of  an  earthy  and  impure  salt,  two 
or  three  inches  in  diameter.  It  is  obtained  by  re- 
ducing to  ashes  the  gpadix  and  fruit  of  a  palm-tree, 
and  consists  of  muriate  of  potash  and  soda,  caustic 
lime,  and  other  ingredients.  The  Indians  dissolve 
a  few  grains  in  water,  which  they  drop  on  their 
food. 


FORESTS SNAKES RIO   NEGRO.  227 

On  the  5th  May  the  travellers  set  off  on  foot  to 
follow  their  canoe.  They  had  to  ford  numerous 
streams,  the  passage  of  which  was  somewhat  dan- 
gerous on  account  of  the  number  of  snakes  in  the 
marshes.  After  passing  through  dense  forests  of 
lofty  trees,  among  which  they  noted  several  new 
species  of  coffee  and  other  plants,  they  arrived  to- 
wards evening  at  a  small  farm  on  the  Pimichin,  where 
they  passed  the  night  in  a  deserted  hut,  not  without 
apprehension  of  being  bitten  by  serpents,  as  they 
were  obliged  to  lie  on  the  floor.  Before  they  took 
possession  of  this  shed  their  attendants  killed  two 
great  Mapanare  snakes,  and  in  the  morning  a  large 
viper  was  found  beneath  the  jaguar-skin  on  which  one 
of  them  had  slept.  This  species  of  serpent  is  white  on 
the  belly,  spotted  with  brown  and  black  on  the  back, 
and  grows  to  the  length  of  four  or  five  feet.  Hum- 
boldt  remarks,  that  if  vipers  and  rattlesnakes  had 
such  a  disposition  for  offence  as  is  usually  supposed, 
the  human  race  could  not  have  resisted  them  in  some 
parts  of  America. 

Embarking  at  sunrise,  they  proceeded  down  the 
Pimichin,  which  is  celebrated  for  the  number  of  its 
windings.  It  is  navigable  during  the  whole  year, 
and  has  only  one  rapid.  In  four  hours  and  a  half 
they  entered  the  Rio  Negro.  "  The  morning,"  says 
Humboldt,  "  was  cool  and  beautiful ;  we  had  been 
confined  thirty-six  days  in  a  narrow  canoe,  so  un- 
steady that  it  would  have  been  overset  by  any  one 
rising  imprudently  from  his  seat,  without  warning 
the  rowers  to  preserve  its  balance  by  leaning  to  the 
opposite  side.  We  had  suffered  severely  from  the 
stings  of  insects,  but  we  had  withstood  the  insalu- 
brity of  the  climate ;  we  had  passed  without  acci- 
dent the  numerous  falls  and  bars  that  impede  the 
navigation  of  the  rivers,  and  often  render  it  more 
dangerous  than  long  voyages  by  sea. 
-  "  After  all  that  we  had  endured,  I  may  be  allowed 
to  mention  the  satisfaction  which  we  felt  in  having 


228  THE    RIO    NEGRO. 

reached  the  tributaries  of  the  Amazon,— in  having 
passed  the  isthmus  which  separates  two  great  sys- 
tems of  rivers, — and  in  having  attained  a  certainty 
of  fulfilling  the  most  important  object  of  our  jour- 
ney,— that  of  determining  by  astronomical  observa- 
tions the  course  of  that  arm  of  the  Orinoco  which 
joins  the  Rio  Negro,  and  whose  existence  had  been 
alternately  proved  and  denied  for  half  a  century. 
In  these  inland  regions  of  the  New  Continent  we 
almost  accustom  ourselves  to  consider  man  as  ines- 
sential to  the  order  of  nature.  The  earth  is  over- 
loaded with  plants  of  which  nothing  impedes  the 
development.  An  immense  layer  of  mould  evinces 
the  uninterrupted  action  of  the  organic  powers. 
The  crocodiles  and  boas  are  masters  of  the  river ; 
the  jaguar,  pecan,  dante,  and  monkeys  of  numerous 
species  traverse  the  forest  without  fear  and  with- 
out danger,  residing  there  as  in  an  ancient  heritage. 
On  the  ocean  and  on  the  sands  of  Africa,  we  with 
difficulty  reconcile  ourselves  to  the  disappearance 
of  man ;  but  here  his  absence,  in  a  fertile  country 
clothed  with  perpetual  verdure,  produces  a  strange 
and  melancholy  feekng." 

The  Rio  Negro,  which  flows  eastward  into  the 
Amazon,  was  for  ages  considered  of  great  political 
importance  by  the  Spanish  government,  as  it  would 
have  furnished  to  the  Portuguese  an  easy  introduc- 
tion into  the  missions  of  Guiana.  The  jealousies 
of  these  rival  nations,  the  ignorance  and  diversified 
languages  of  the  Indians,  the  difficulty  of  penetrat- 
ing into  these  inland  regions,  and  other  causes,  ren- 
dered the  knowledge  of  the  sources  as  well  as  the 
tributaries  of  the  Negro  and  Orinoco  extremely  de- 
fective. To  endeavour  to  throw  some  light  on  this 
geographical  point,  and  in  particular  to  determine 
the  course  of  that  branch  of  the  Orinoco  which 
joins  the  Rio  Negro,  was  the  great  object  of  Hum- 
boldt's  journey.  This  last,  or  Black  River,  is  so 
named  on  account  of  the  dark  colour  of  its  waters. 


MISSION   OF   SAN    CARLOS.  229 

which  are  of  an  amber  hue  wherever  it  is  shallow, 
and  dark-brown  wherever  the  depth  is  great.  After 
entering  it  by  the  Pimichin,  and  passing  the  rapid  at 
the  confluence  of  the  two  streams,  the  travellers 
soon  reached  the  mission  of  Maroa,  containing  150 
Indians,  where  they  purchased  some  fine  toucans. 
Passing  the  station  of  Tomo,  they  visited  that  of 
Davipe,  where  they  were  received  by  the  missionary 
with  great  hospitality.  Here  they  bought  some 
fowls  and  a  pig,  which  interested  their  servants  so 
much  that  they  pressed  them  to  depart,  in  order  to 
reach  the  island  of  Dapa,  where  the  animal  might  be 
roasted.  They  arrived  at  sunset,  and  found  some 
cultivated  ground  and  an  Indian  hut.  Four  natives 
were  seated  round  a  fire  eating  a  kind  of  paste  con- 
sisting of  large  ants,  of  which  several  bags  were 
suspended  over  the  fire.  There  were  more  than 
fourteen  persons  in  this  small  cabin,  lying  naked  in 
hammocks  placed  above  each  other.  They  received 
Father  Zea  with  great  joy,  and  two  young  women 
prepared  cassava-cakes ;  after  which  the  travellers 
retired  to  rest.  The  family  slept  only  till  two  in 
the  morning,  when  they  began  to  converse  in  their 
hammocks.  This  custom  of  being  awake  four  or 
five  hours  before  sunrise  Humboldt  found  to  be  gen- 
eral among  the  people  of  Guiana ;  and,  hence,  when 
an  attempt  is  made  to  surprise  them,  the  first  part 
of  the  night  is  chosen  for  the  purpose. 

Proceeding  down  the  Rio  Negro,  they  passed  the 
mouth  of  the  Casiquiare,  the  river  by  which  a  com- 
munication is  effected  between  the  former  and  the 
Orinoco :  and  towards  evening  reached  the  mission 
of  San  Carlos  del  Rio  Negro,  with  the  commander 
of  which  they  lodged.  The  military  establishment 
of  this  frontier  post  consisted  of  seventeen  soldiers, 
ten  of  whom  were  detached  for  the  security  of  the 
neighbouring  stations.  The  voyage  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Rio  Negro  to  Grand  Para  occupying  only 
twenty  or  twenty-five  days,  it  would  not  have  taken 


230  AMAZON-STONES. 

much  more  time  to  have  gone  down  the  Amazon 
to  the  coast  of  Brazil,  than  to  return  by  the  Casi- 
quiare  and  Orinoco  to  that  of  Caraccas;  but  our 
travellers  were  informed  that  it  was  difficult  to  pass 
from  the  Spanish  to  the  Portuguese  settlements ; 
and  it  was  well  for  them  that  they  declined  this 
route,  for  they  afterward  learned  that  instructions 
had  been  issued  to  seize  and  convey  them  to  Lisbon. 
This  project,  however,  was  not  countenanced  by  the 
government  at  home,  who,  when  informed  of  the 
zeal  of  its  subaltern  agents,  gave  instant  orders  that 
the  philosophers  should  not  be  disturbed  in  their 
pursuits. 

Among  the  Indians  of  the  Rio  Negro  they  found 
some  of  those  green  pebbles  known  by  the  name  of 
Amazon-rStones,  and  which  are  worn  as  amulets. 
The  form  usually  given  to  them  is  that  of  the  Perse- 
politan  cylinders  longitudinally  perforated.  These 
hard  substances  denote  a  degree  of  civilization  supe- 
rior to  that  of  the  present  inhabitants,  who,  so  far 
from  being  able  to  cut  them,  imagine  that  they  are 
naturally  soft  when  taken  out  of  the  earth,  and 
harden  after  they  have  been  moulded  by  the  hand. 
They  were  found  to  be  jade  or  saussurite,  approach- 
ing to  compact  felspar,  of  a  colour  passing  from 
apple  to  emerald  green,  translucent  on  the  edges, 
and  taking  a  fine  polish ;  but  the  substance  usually 
called  Amazon-stone  in  Europe  is  different,  being  a 
common  felspar  of  a  similar  colour,  coming  from  the 
Uralian  Mountains  and  Lake  Onego  in  Russia. 

Connected  with  this  mineral  are  the  warlike  wo- 
men, whom  the  travellers  of  the  sixteenth  century 
named  the  Amazons  of  the  New  World;  and  re- 
garding whom  Humboldt  found  no  satisfactory  ac- 
counts, although  he  is  disposed  to  believe  that  their 
existence  was  not  merely  imaginary. 

The  travellers  passed  three  days  at  San  Carlos, 
watching  the  greater  part  of  each  night,  in  the  hope 
of  seizing  the  moment  of  the  passage  of  some  star 


ASCENT    OF    THE    CASIQUIARE.  231 

over  the  meridian;  but  the  sky  was  continually 
obscured  by  vapours.  On  the  10th  May  they  em- 
barked a  little  before  sunrise  to  go  up  the  Rio  Negro. 
The  morning  was  fine,  but  as  the  heat  increased  the 
firmament  became  darkened.  Passing  between  the 
islands  of  Zaruma  and  Mibita,  covered  with  dense 
vegetation,  and  ascending  the  rapids  of  the  Piedra 
de  Uinumane,  they  entered  the  Casiquiare  at  the 
distance  x>f  9£  miles  from  the  fort  of  San  Carlos. 
The  rock  at  the  rapids  was  granite,  traversed  by 
numerous  veins  of  quartz  several  inches  broad.  The 
night  was  spent  at  the  mission  of  San  Francisco 
Solano,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Casiquiare.  The 
Indians  were  of  two  nations,  the  Pacimonales  and 
Cheruvichahenas ;  and  from  the  latter  the  travellers 
endeavoured  to  obtain  some  information  respecting 
the  upper  part  and  sources  of  the  Rio  Negro,  but 
without  success.  In  one  of  the  huts  of  the  former 
tribe  they  purchased  two  large  birds,  a  toucan  and  a 
macaw,  to  add  to  the  already  considerable  stock 
which  they  possessed.  Most  of  the  animals  were 
confined  in  small  cages,  while  others  ran  at  liberty 
all  over  the  boat.  At  the  approach  of  rain,  the 
macaws  uttered  frightful  screams,  the  toucan  was 
desirous  of  gaining  the  shore  in  order  to  fish,  and 
the  little  monkeys  went  in  search  of  Father  Zea  to 
obtain  shelter  in  his  large  sleeves.  At  night  the 
leather  case  containing  their  provisions  was  placed 
in  the  centre ;  then  the  instruments  and  cages ; 
around  which  were  suspended  the  hammocks  of  the 
travellers ;  and  beyond  them  the  Indians  slept,  pro- 
tected by  a  circle  of  fires  to  keep  off  the  jaguars. 

On  the  llth  they  left  the  mission  of  San  Francisco 
Solano  at  a  late  hour  to  make  a  short  day's  journey, 
for  the  vapours  had  begun  to  break  up,  and  the  trav- 
ellers were  unwilling  to  go  far  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Casiquiare  without  determining  the  longitude 
and  latitude.  This  they  had  an  opportunity  of  doing 
at  night  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  solitary  granite 


232  MOSQUITOES — INDIANS. 

rock,  the  Piedra  di  Culimacari,  which  they  found  to 
be  in  lat.  2°  0'  42"  north,  and  long.  67°  13'  26"  west. 
The  determination  was  of  great  importance  in  a 
geographical  and  political  point  of  view,  for  the 
greatest  errors  existed  in  maps,  and  the  equator  had 
been  considered  as  the  boundary  between  the  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  possessions. 

Leaving  the  Rock  of  Culimacari  at  half  after  one 
in  the  morning,  they  proceeded  against  the  current, 
which  was  very  rapid.  The  waters  of  the  Casi- 
quiare  are  white,  and  the  mosquitoes  again  com- 
menced their  invasions,  becoming  more  numerous 
as  the  boat  receded  from  the  black  stream  of  the  Rio 
Negro.  In  the  whole  course  of  the  Casiquiare  they 
did  not  find  in  the  Christian  settlements  a  population 
of  200  individuals,  and  the  free  Indians  have  retired 
from  its  banks.  During  a  great  part  of  the  year  the 
natives  subsist  on  ants.  At  the  mission  of  Manda- 
vaca,  which  they  reached  in  the  evening,  they  found 
a  monk  who  had  spent  twenty  years  in  the  country, 
and  whose  legs  were  so  spotted  by  the  stings  of 
insects  that  the  whiteness  of  the  skin  could  scarcely 
be  perceived.  He  complained  of  his  solitude,  and 
the  s&d  necessity  which  often  compelled  him  to 
leave  the  most  atrocious  crimes  unpunished.  An 
indigenous  alcayde,  or  overseer,  had  a  few  years 
before  eaten  one  of  his  wives,  after  fattening  her  by 
good  feeding.  "  You  cannot  imagine,"  said  the 
missionary,  "  all  the  perversity  of  this  Indian  family. 
You  receive  men  of  a  new  tribe  into  the  village; 
they  appear  to  be  good,  mild,  and  industrious ;  but 
suffer  them  to  take  part  in  an  incursion  to  bring  in 
the  natives,  and  you  can  scarcely  prevent  them  from 
murdering  all  they  meet,  and  hiding  some  portions 
of  the  dead  bodies."  The  travellers  had  in  their 
canoe  a  fugitive  Indian  from  the  Guaisia,  who" in  a 
few  weeks  had  become  sufficiently  civilized  to  be 
very  useful.  As  he  was  mild  and  intelligent,  they 
had  some  desire  of  taking  him  into  their  service ; 


SCENERY    OF    THE    CASIQJJIARE.  233 

but  discovering  that  his  anthropophagous  propensi- 
ties remained,  they  gave  up  the  idea.  He  told  them 
that  "  his  relations  (the  people  of  his  tribe)  preferred 
the  inside  of  the  hands  in  man,  as  in  bears,"  accom- 
panying the  assertion  with  gestures  of  savage  joy. 

Although  the  Indians  of  the  Casiquiare  readily 
return  to  their  barbarous  habits,  they  manifest,  while 
in  the  missions,  intelligence,  industry,  and  a  great 
facility  in  learning  the  Spanish  tongue.  As  the 
villages  are  usually  inhabited  by  three  or  four  tribes 
who  do  not  understand  each  other,  the  language  of 
their  instructer  affords  a  general  means  of  commu- 
nication. The  soil  on  the  Casiquiare  is  of  excellent 
quality.  Rice,  beans,  cotton,  sugar,  and  indigo 
thrive  wherever  they  have  been  tried ;  but  the  hu- 
midity of  the  air,  and  the  swarms  of  insects,  oppose 
almost  insuperable  obstacles  to  cultivation.  Im- 
mense bands  of  white  ants  destroy  every  thing  that 
comes  in  their  way,  insomuch,  that  when  a  mis- 
sionary would  cultivate  salad  or  any  European 
culinary  vegetable,  he  fills  an  old  boat  with  soil,  and 
having  sown  the  seeds  suspends  it  with  cords,  or 
elevates  it  on  posts. 

From  the  14th  to  the  21st  the  travellers  continued 
to  ascend  the  Casiquiare,  which  flowed  with  consid- 
erable rapidity,  having  a  breadth  of  426  yards,  and 
bordered  by  two  enormous  walls  of  trees  hung  with 
lianas.  No  openings  could  be  discovered  in  these 
fences ;  and  at  night  the  Indians  had  to  cut  a  small 
spot  with  their  hatchets  to  make  room  enough  for 
their  beds,  it  being  impossible  to  remain  in  the  canoe 
on  account  of  the  mosquitoes  and  heavy  rains. 
Great  difficulty  was  experienced  in  finding  wood  to 
make  a  fire,  the  branches  being  so  full  of  sap  that 
they  would  scarcely  burn.  On  shore  the  pothoses, 
arums,  and  lianas  furnished  so  thick  a  covering,  that 
although  it  rained  violently  they  were  completely 
sheltered.  At  their  last  resting-place  on  the  Casi- 
U2 


234  MOUNTAINS    OF   DUIDA. 

quiare,  the  jaguars  carried  off  their  great  dog  while 
they  slept. 

On  the  21st  May  they  again  entered  the  channel 
of  the  Orinoco,  three  leagues  below  the  mission  of 
Esmeralda.  Here  the  scenery  wore  a  very  impos- 
ing aspect,  lofty  granitic  mountains  rising  on  the 
northern  bank.  The  celebrated  bifurcation  of  the 
river  takes  place  in  this  manner :  The  stream,  issu- 
ing from  among  the  mountains,  reaches  the  opening 
of  a  valley  or  depression  of  the  ground  which  ter- 
minates at  the  Rio  Negro,  and  divides  into  two 
branches.  The  principal  branch  continues  its  course 
towards  the  west-north-west,  turning  round  the  group 
of  the  mountains  of  Parime,  while  the  other  flows 
off  southward,  and  joins  the  Rio  Negro.  By  this 
latter  branch  our  travellers  ascended  from  the  river 
just  mentioned,  and  again  entered  the  Orinoco,  four 
weeks  after  they  had  left  it  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Guaviare.  They  had  still  a 'voyage  of  863  miles 
to  perform  before  reaching  Angostura. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Route  from  Esmeralda  to  Angostura. 

Mission  of  Esmeralda — Curare  Poison  —  Indians  —  Duida  Mountain — 
Descent  of  the  Orinoco— Cave  of  Ataruipe— Raudalito  of  Carucari — 
Mission  of  Uruana— Character  of  the  Otomacs— Clay  eaten  by  the  Na- 
tives—Arrival  at  Angostura— The  Travellers  attacked  by  Fever— Fe- 
rocity of  the  Crocodiles. 

OPPOSITE  the  point  where  the  division  of  the  river 
takes  place,  there  rises  in  the  form  of  an  amphi- 
theatre a  group  of  granitic  mountains,  of  which  the 
principal  one  bears  the  name  of  Duida.  It  is  about 
8500  feet  high ;  and  being  perpendicular  on  the 
south  and  west,  bare  and  stony  on  the  summit,  and 


CURARE    POISON.  235 

clothed  on  its  less  steep  declivities  with  vast  forests, 
presents  a  magnificent  spectacle.  At  the  foot  of 
this  huge  mass  is  placed  the  most  solitary  and  re- 
mote Christian  settlement  on  the  Upper  Orinoco, — 
the  mission  of  Esmeralda,  containing  eighty  inhabit- 
ants. It  is  surrounded  by  a  beautiful  plain,  covered 
with  grasses  of  various  species,  pine-apples,  and 
clumps  of  Mauritia  palm,  and  watered  by  limpid 
rills. 

There  was  no  monk  at  the  village  ;  but  the  trav- 
ellers were  received  with  kindness  by  an  old  officer, 
who,  taking  them  for  Catalonian  shopkeepers,  ad- 
mired their  simplicity  when  he  saw  the  bundles  of 
paper  in  which  their  plants  were  preserved,  and 
which  he  supposed  they  intended  for  sale.  Not- 
withstanding the  smallness  of  the  mfssion  three  In- 
dian languages  were  spoken  in  it :  and  among  the 
inhabitants  were  some  Zamboes,  mulattoes,  and  cop- 
per-coloured people.  A  mineralogical  error  gave 
celebrity  to  Esmeralda,  the  rock-crystals  and  chlo- 
ritic  quartzes  of  Duida  having  been  mistaken  for 
diamonds  and  emeralds.  The  converts  live  in  great 
poverty,  and  their  misery  is  augmented  by  prodi- 
gious swarms  of  mosquitoes.  Yet  the  situation  of 
the  establishment  is  exceedingly  picturesque  ;  the 
surrounding  country  is  possessed  of  great  fertility ; 
and  plantains,  indigo,  sugar,  and  cacao  might  be  pro- 
duced in  abundance. 

This  village  is  the  most  celebrated  spot  on  the 
Orinoco  for  the  manufacture  of  the  curare,  a  very 
active  poison  employed  in  war  and  in  the  chase,  as 
well  as  a  remedy  for  gastric  obstructions.  Erro- 
neous ideas  had  been  entertained  of  this  substance ; 
but  our  travellers  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  it 
prepared.  When  they  arrived  at  Esmeralda,  most 
of  the  Indians  had  just  finished  an  excursion  to 
gather  juvias  or  the  fruit  of  the  bertholletia,*  and  the 

*  The  delightful  Brazil-nut  of  our  shops. 


236  CURARE    POISON. 

liana  which  yields  the  curare.  Their  return  was 
celebrated  by  a  festival,  which  lasted  several  days, 
during  which  they  were  in  a  state  of  intoxication. 
One  less  drunk  than  the  rest  was  employed  in  pre- 
paring the  poison.  He  was  the  chymist  of  the  place, 
and  boasted  of  his  skill,  extolling  the  composition  as 
superior  to  any  thing  that  could  be  made  in  Europe. 
The  liana  which  yields  it  is  named  bejuco,  and  ap- 
peared to  be  of  the  Strychnos  family.  The  branches 
are  scraped  with  a  knife,  and  the  bark  that  comes  off 
is  bruised,  and  reduced  to  very  thin  filaments  on  the 
stone  employed  for  grinding  cassava.  A  cold  infu- 
sion is  prepared  by  pouring  water  on  this  fibrous 
mass,  in  a  funnel  made  of  a  plantain-leaf  rolled  up 
in  the  form  of  a  cone,  and  placed  in  another,  some- 
what stronger,  made  of  palm-leaves,  the  whole  sup- 
ported by  a  slight  framework.  A  yellowish  fluid 
filters  through  the  apparatus.  It  is  the  venomous 
liquor,  which,  however,  acquires  strength  only  when 
concentrated  by  evaporation  in  a  large  earthen  pot. 
To  give  it  consistence  it  is  mixed  with  a  glutinous 
vegetable  juice,  obtained  from  s  tree  named  kiraca- 
guera.  At  the  moment  when  this  addition  is  made 
to  the  fluid,  now  kept  in  a  state  of  ebullition,  the 
whole  blackens,  and  coagulates  into  a  substance  re- 
sembling tar,  or  thick  syrup.  The  curare  may  be 
tasted  without  danger ;  for,  like  the  venom  of  ser- 
pents, it  only  acts  when  introduced  directly  into  the 
blood,  and  the  Indians  consider  it  as  an  excellent 
stomachic.  It  is  universally  employed  by  them  in 
hunting,  the  tips  of  their  arrows  being  covered  with 
it ;  and  the  usual  mode  of  killing  domestic  fowls  is  to 
scratch  the  skin  with  one  of  these  infected  weapons. 
Other  species  of  vegetable  poison  are  manufactured 
in  various  parts  of  Guiana. 

After  seeing  this  composition  prepared,  the  phi- 
losophers accompanied  the  artist  to  the  festival  of 
the  juvias.  In  the  hut  where  the  revellers  were  as- 
sembled, large  roasted  monkeys  blackened  by  smoke 


INDIAN   FEAST DUIDA.  237 

were  ranged  against  the  wall.  Humboldt  imagines 
that  the  habit  of  eating  animals  so  much  resembling 
man  has  in  some  degree  contributed  to  diminish  the 
horror  of  anthropophagy  among  savages.  Apes, 
when  thus  cooked,  and  especially  such  as  have  a 
very  round  head,  bear  a  hideous  likeness  to  a  child  ; 
and  for  this  reason  such  Europeans  as  are  obliged  to 
feed  upon  them  separate  the  head  and  hands  before 
the  dish  is  presented  at  their  tables.  The  flesh  is 
very  lean  and  dry. 

Among  the  articles  brought  by  the  Indians  from 
their  expedition  were  various  interesting  vegetable 
productions ;  fruits  of  different  species,  reeds  up- 
wards of  fifteen  feet  long,  perfectly  straight  and  free 
of  knots,  and  bark  used  for  making  shirts.  The 
women  were  employed  in  serving  the  men  with  the 
food  already  mentioned,  fermented  liquors,  and  palm- 
cabbage,  but  were  not  permitted  to  join  in  the  fes- 
tivities. Among  all  the  tribes  of  the  Orinoco  the 
females  live  in  a  sort  of  slavery,  almost  the  whole 
labour  devolving  upon  them.  Polygamy  is  frequently 
practised,  and  on  the  other  hand  a  kind  of  polyandry- 
is  established  in  places  where  the  fair  sex  are  less 
numerous.  When  a  native  who  has  several  wives 
becomes  a  Christian,  the  missionaries  compel  him 
to  choose  her  whom  he  prefers  and  to  dismiss  the 
others. 

The  summit  of  Duida  is  so  steep  that  no  person 
has  ever  ascended  it.  At  the  beginning  and  end  of 
the  rainy  season,  small  flames,  which  appear  to  shift, 
are  seen  upon  it.  On  this  account  the  mountain  has 
been  called  a  volcano,  which,  however,  it  is  not.  The 
granite  whereof  it  is  composed  is  full  of  veins,  some 
of  which  being  partly  open,  gaseous  and  inflamma- 
ble vapours  may  pass  through  them ;  for  it  is  not 
probable  that  the  flames  are  caused  by  lightning,  the 
humidity  of  the  climate  being  such  that  plants  do 
not  readily  take  fire. 

The  travellers  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  at  Es- 


238  PROGRESS   DOWN   THE    RIVER. 

meralda  some  of  the  dwarf  and  fair  Indians,  that 
ancient  traditions  had  mentioned  as  living  near  the 
sources  of  the  Orinoco.  The  Guaicas,  or  diminu- 
tive class,  whom  they  measured,  were  in  general 
from  4 feet  JOi  to  4  feet  1H  inches  in  height;  and  it 
was  said  that  the  whole  tribe  was  of  the  same  stature. 
The  Guahariboes,  or  fair  variety,  were  similar  to  the 
others  in  form  and  features,  and  differed  only  in  hav- 
ing the  skin  of  a  lighter  tint. 

On  the  23d  May,  the  travellers  left  the  mission  of 
Esmeralda  in  a  state  of  languor  and  weakness, 
caused  by  the  torment  of  insects,  bad  nourishment, 
and  a  long  voyage,  performed  in  a  narrow  and  damp 
boat.  They  had  not  attempted  to  ascend  the  Ori- 
noco towards  its  sources,  as  the  country  above  that 
station  was  inhabited  by  hostile  Indians ;  so  that  of 
the  two  geographical  problems  connected  with  the 
river, — the  position  of  its  sources,  and  the  nature  of 
its  communication  with  the  Rio  Negro, — they  had 
been  obliged  to  content  themselves  with  the  solution 
of  the  latter.  When  they  embarked  they  were  sur- 
rounded by  the  mulattoes  and  others  wha  considered 
themselves  Spaniards,  and  who  entreated  them  to 
solicit  from  the  governor  of  Angostura  their  return 
to  the  llanos,  or  at  least  their  removal  to  the  mis- 
sions of  the  Rio  Negro.  Humboldt  pleaded  the 
cause  of  these  proscribed  men  at  a  subsequent  pe- 
riod; but  his  efforts  were  fruitless.  The  weather 
was  very  stormy,  and  the  summit  of  Duida  was  en- 
veloped in  clouds  ;  but  the  thunders  which  rolled 
there  did  not  disturb  the  plains.  Nor  did  they,  gen- 
erally speaking,  observe  in  the  valley  of  the  Orinoco 
those  violent  electric  explosions  which  almost  every 
night,  during  the  rainy  season,  alarm  the  traveller 
along  the  Rio  Magdalena.  After  four  hours'  naviga- 
tion in  descending  the  stream,  they  arrived  at  the 
bifurcation,  and  reposed  on  the  same  beach  of  the 
Casiquiare  where,  a  few  days  before,  their  dog  had 
been  carried  off  by  the  jaguars.  The  cries  of  these 


CAVE  OF  ATARUIPE SPLENDID  SCENERY.     239 

animals  were  again  heard  through  the  whole  night. 
The  black  tiger  also  occurs  in  these  districts.  It  is 
celebrated  for  its  strength  and  ferocity,  and  appears 
to  be  larger  than  the  other,  of  which,  however,  it  is 
probably  a  variety. 

Leaving  their  resting-place  before  sunrise,  and 
sailing  with  the  current,  they  passed  the  mouths  of 
the  Cunucunumo,  Guanami,  and  Puruname.  The 
country  was  entirely  desert,  although  rude  figures 
representing  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  different  ani- 
mals are  to  be  seen  on  the  granite  rocks ;  attesting 
the  former  existence  of  a  people  more  civilized 
than  any  that  they  had  seen. 

On  the  27th  May  they  reached  the  mission  of  San 
Fernando  de  Atabipo,  where  they  had  lodged  a  month 
before  on  their  ascent  towards  the  Rio  Negro.  The 
president  had  allowed  himself  to  become  very  un- 
easy respecting  the  object  of  their  journey ;  and  re- 
quested Humboldt  to  leave  a  writing  in  his  hands, 
bearing  testimony  to  the  good  order  that  prevailed  in 
the  Christian  settlements  on  the  Orinoco,  and  the 
mildness  v-ith  which  the  natives  were  treated.  This, 
however,  he  declined.  From  this  point  they  re- 
traced their  former  route,  and  passed  the  cataracts. 
On  the  31st,  they  landed  before  sunset  at  the  Puerto 
de  la  Expedicion,  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  the 
cave  of  Ataruipe,  which  is  the  sepulchre  of  an  ex- 
tinct nation. 

"  We  climbed,"  says  Humboldt,  "  with  difficulty, 
and  not  without  danger,  a  steep  rock  of  granite,  en- 
tirely destitute  of  soil.  It  would  have  been  almost 
impossible  to  fix  the  foot  on  this  smooth  and  highly- 
inclined  surface,  had  not  large  crystals  of  felspar, 
which  had  resisted  decomposition,  projected  from 
the  rock  so  as  to  present  points  of  support.  Scarcely 
had  we  reached  the  summit  of  the  mountain  when 
we  were  struck  with  astonishment  at  the  extraordi- 
nary appearance  of  the  surrounding  country  : — The 
foamy  bed  of  the  waters  was  filled  with  an  archi- 


240  SEPULCHRAL    CAVE. 

pelago  of  islands  covered  with  palms.  Towards  the 
west,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Orinoco,  extended  the 
savannas  of  the  Meta  and  Casanare,  like  a  sea  of 
verdure,  the  misty  horizon  of  which  was  illuminated 
by  the  rays  of  the  setting  sun.  The  mighty  orb, 
like  a  globe  of  fire  suspended  over  the  plain,  and  the 
solitary  peak  of  Uniana,  which  appeared  more  lofty 
from  being  wrapped  in  vapours  that  softened  its  out- 
lines, contributed  to  impress  a  character  of  sublim- 
ity upon  the  scene.  We  looked  down  into  a  deep 
valley  enclosed  on  every  side.  Birds  of  prey  and 
goatsuckers  winged  their  solitary  way  in  this  inac- 
cessible circus.  We  found  pleasure  in  following 
their  fleeting  shadows  as  they  glided  slowly  over  the 
flanks  of  the  rock. 

"  A  narrow  ridge  led  us  towards  a  neighbouring' 
mountain,  the  rounded  summit  of  which  supported 
enormous  blocks  of  granite.  These  masses  are 
more  than  40  or  50  feet  in  diameter,  and  present  a 
form  so  perfectly  spherical,  that,  as  they  seem  to 
touch  the  ground  only  by  a  small  number  of  points,, 
it  might  be  supposed  that  the  slightest  shock  of  an 
earthquake  would  roll  them  into  the  abyss.  I  do 
not  remember  to  have  seen  anywhere  else  a  similar 
phenomenon  amid  the  decompositions  of  granitic 
deposites.  If  the  balls  rested  upon  a  rock  of  a  dif- 
ferent nature,  as  is  the  case  with  the  blocks  of  Jura, 
it  might  be  supposed  that  they  had  been  rounded  by 
the  action  of  water,  or  projected  by  the  force  of  an 
elastic  fluid  ;  but  their  position  on  the  summit  of  a 
hill  of  the  same  nature  renders  it  more  probable 
that  they  owe  their  origin  to  a  gradual  decomposi- 
tion of  the  rock. 

"  The  most  remote  part  of  the  valley  is  covered 
by  a  dense  forest.  In  this  shady  and  solitary  placer 
on  the  declivity  of  a  steep  mountain,  opens  the  cave 
of  Ataruipe.  It  is  less  a  cave  than  a  projecting 
rock,  in  which  the  waters  have  scooped  a  great  hol- 
low, when,  in  the  ancient  revolutions  of  our  planet, 


SEPULCHRAL    CAVE.  241 

they  had  reached  to  that  height.  In  this  tomb  of  a 
whole  extinct  tribe  we  soon  counted  nearly  600 
skeletons  in  good  preservation,  and  arranged  so 
regularly  that  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  make 
an  error  in  numbering  them.  Each  skeleton  rests 
upon  a  kind  of  basket  formed  of  the  petioles  of 
palms.  These  baskets,  which  the  natives  call  ma- 
pires,  have  the  form  of  a  square  bag.  Their  size  is 
proportional  to  the  age  of  the  dead ;  and  there  are 
even  some  for  infants  which  had  died  at  the  moment 
of  birth.  We  saw  them  from  ten  inches  and  a  half 
to  three  feet  six  inches  and  a  half  in  length.  All 
the  skeletons  are  bent,  and  so  entire  that  not  a  rib 
or  a  bone  of  the  fingers  or  toes  is  wanting.  The 
bones  have  been  prepared  in  three  different  ways, — 
whitened  in  the  air  and  sun,  died  red  with  onoto,  a 
colouring  matter  obtained  from  the  Bixa  orellana; 
or,  like  mummies,  covered  with  odorous  resins,  and 
enveloped  in  leaves  of  heliconia  and  banana.  The 
Indians  related  to  us  that  the  corpse  is  first  placed 
in  the  humid  earth,  that  the  flesh  may  be  consumed 
by  degrees.  Some  months  after,  it  is  taken  out,  and 
the  flesh  that  remains  on  the  bones  is  scraped  off 
with  sharp  stones.  Several  tribes  of  Guiana  still 
follow  this  practice.  Near  the  mapires  or  baskets 
there  were  vases  of  half-burnt  clay,  which  appeared 
to  contain  the  bones  of  the  same  family.  The 
largest  of  these  vases  or  funeral  urns  are  three  feet 
two  inches  high,  and  four  feet  six  inches  long. 
They  are  of  a  greenish-gray  colour,  and  have  an 
oval  form,  not  unpleasant  to  the  eye.  The  handles 
are  made  in  the  form  of  crocodiles  or  serpents,  and 
the  edge  is  encircled  by  meanders,  labyrinths,  and 
grecques,  with  narrow  lines  variously  combined. 
These  paintings  are  seen  in  all  countries,  among 
nations  placed  at  the  greatest  distances  from  each 
other,  and  the  most  different  in  respect  to  civiliza- 
tion. The  inhabitants  of  the  little  mission  of  May- 
pures  execute  them  at  the  present  day  on  their  most 


242  SEPULCHRAL    CAVE. 

common  pottery.  They  adorn  the  shields  of  the 
Otaheitans,  the  fishing-instruments  of  the  Esquimaux, 
the  walls  of  the  Mexican  palace  of  Mitla,  and  the 
vases  of  Magna  Graecia. 

"  We  opened,  to  the  great  concern  of  our  guides, 
several  mapires,  for  the  purpose  of  attentively  ex- 
amining the  form  of  the  sculls.  They  all  presented 
the  characters  of  the  American  race,— two  or  three 
only  approached  the  Caucasian  form.  We  took 
several  sculls,  the  skeleton  of  a  child  of  six  or  seven 
years,  and  those  of  two  full-grown  men,  of  the  na- 
tion of  the  Atures.  All  these  bones,  some  painted 
red,  others  covered  with  odorous  resins,  were  placed 
in  the  mapires  or  baskets  already  described.  They 
formed  nearly  the  whole  "lading  of  a  mule;  and,  as 
we  were  aware  of  the  superstitious  aversion  which 
the  natives  show  towards  dead  bodies,  after  they 
have  given  them  burial,  we  carefully  covered  the 
baskets  with  new  mats.  Unfortunately  for  us,  the 
penetration  of  the  Indians,  and  the  extreme  delicacy 
of  their  organs  of  smell,  rendered  our  precautions 
useless.  Wherever  we  stopped, — in  the  Carib  mis- 
sions, in  the  midst  of  the  llanos,  between  Angos- 
tura and  New-Barcelona, — the  natives  collected 
around  our  mules  to  admire  the  monkeys  which  we 
had  brought  from  the  Orinoco.  These  good  people 
had  scarcely  touched  our  baggage  when  they  pre- 
dicted the  approaching  death  of  the  beast  of  burden 
'  that  carried  the  dead.'  In  vain  we  told  them  that 
they  were  deceived  in  their  conjectures,  that  the 
panniers  contained  bones  of  crocodiles  and  laman- 
tins  ;  they  persisted  in  repeating  that  they  smelt  the 
resin  which  surrounded  the  skeletons,  and  that '  they 
were  some  of  their  old  relatives.' 

"  WTe  departed  in  silence  from  the  cave  of  Ata- 
ruipe.  It  was  one  of  those  calm  and  serene  nights 
which  are  so  common  in  the  torrid  zone.  The  stars 
shone  with  a  mild  and  planetary  light ;  their  scintil- 
lation was  scarcely  perceptible  at  the  horizon,  which 


CATARACTS    OF    ATTIRES.  243 

seemed  illuminated  by  the  great  nebulae  of  the  south- 
ern hemisphere.  Multitudes  of  insects  diffused  a 
reddish  light  over  the  air.  The  ground,  profusely 
covered  with  plants,  shone  with  those  living  and 
moving  lights  as  if  the  stars  of  the  firmament  had 
fallen  upon  the  savanna.  On  leaving  the  cave,  we 
repeatedly  stopped  to  admire  the  beauty  of  this  ex- 
traordinary place.  The  scented  vanilla  and  festoons 
of  bignoniae  decorated  its  entrance ;  while  the  sum- 
mit, of  the  overhanging  hill  was  crowned  by  arrowy 
palm-trees  that  waved  murmuring  in  the  air." 

Similar  caves  are  said  to  exist  to  the  north  of 
the  cataracts  ;  but  the  tombs  of  the  Indians  of  the 
Orinoco  have  not  been  sufficiently  examined,  be- 
cause they  do  not,  like  those  of  Peru,  contain 
treasures. 

The  travellers  staid  at  the  mission  of  Atures  only 
so  long  as  was  necessary  for  the  passage  of  their 
canoe  through  the  great  falls.  The  priest,  Bernardo 
Zea,  who  had  accompanied  them  to  the  Rio  Negro, 
remained  behind.  His  ague  had  not  been  removed  ; 
but  its  attacks  had  become  an  habitual  evil,  to  which 
he  now  paid  little  attention.  Fevers  of  a  more  de- 
structive kind  prevailed  in  the  establishment,  inso- 
much that  the  greater  part  of  the  inmates  were  con- 
fined to  their  hammocks.  Again  embarked  on  the 
Orinoco  the  travellers  ventured  to  descend  the  lower 
half  of  the  rapids  of  Atures,  landing  here  and  there 
to  climb  the  rocks,  among  which  the  golden  manakin 
(Pipra  rupicola),  one  of  the  most  beautiful  birds  of 
the  tropics,  builds  its  nest.  At  the  Raudalito  of 
Carucari,  they  entered  some  of  the  caverns  formed 
by  the  piling  up  of  granite  blocks,  and  enjoyed  the 
extraordinary  spectacle  of  the  river  dashing  in  a 
sheet  of  foam  over  their  heads.  The  boat  was  to 
coast  the  eastern  bank  of  a  narrow  island,  and  take 
them-  in  after  a  long  circuit ;  but  it  did  not  make  its 
appearance,  and  night  approaching,  together  with  a 
tremendous  thunder-storm,  M.  Bonpland  was  de- 


244      CLAY  EATEN  BY  THE  OTOMACS. 

sirous  of  swimming  across,  in  order  to  seek  assist- 
ance at  Atures  from  Father  Zea.  Humboldt  and 
the  other  person  who  was  with  them  dissuaded  him 
with  difficulty  from  so  hazardous  an  enterprise ;  and 
shortly  after  two  large  crocodiles  made  their  appear- 
ance, attracted  by  the  plaintive  cries  of  the  monkeys. 
At  length  the  Indians  arrived  with  the  vessel,  and 
the  navigation  was  continued  during  part  of  the 
night.  At  Carichana  the  missionary  received  them 
with  kindness.  Here  the  travellers  remained  some 
days  to  recruit  their  exhausted  strength,  and  M. 
Bonpland  had  the  satisfaction  of  dissecting  a 
manatee. 

From  Carichana  they  went  in  two  days  to  the 
mission  of  Uruana,  the  situation  of  which  is  ex- 
tremely picturesque,  the  village  being  placed  at  the 
foot  of  a  lofty  granitic  mountain,  the  columnar 
rocks  appearing  at  intervals  above  the  trees.  Here 
the  river  is  more  than  4263  yards  broad,  and  runs  in 
a  straight  line  directly  east.  The  hamlet  is  inhabited 
by  the  Otomacs,  one  of  the  rudest  of  the  American 
tribes.  These  Indians  swallow  quantities  of  earth 
for  the  purpose  of  allaying  hunger.  When  the 
waters  are  low  they  live  on  fish  and  turtles  ;  but 
when  the  rivers  swell,  and  it  becomes  difficult  to 
procure  that  food,  they  eat  daily  a  large  pdrtion  of 
clay.  The  travellers  found  in  their  huts  heaps  of  it 
in  the  form  of  balls,  piled  up  in  pyramids  three  or 
four  feet  high.  This  substance  is  fine  and  unctuous, 
of  a  yellowish-gray  colour,  containing  silica  and 
alumina,  with  three  or  four  per  cent,  of  lime.  Being 
a  restless  and  turbulent  people,  with  unbridled  pas- 
sions and  excessively  given  to  intoxication,  the  little 
village  of  Uruana  is  more  difficult  to  govern  than 
any  of  the  other  missions.  By  inhaling  at  the  nose 
the  powder  obtained  from  the  pods  of  the  Acacia 
niopo  they  throw  themselves  into  a  state  of  intoxi- 
cation bordering  on  madness,  that  lasts  several  days, 
during  which  dreadful  murders  are  committed.  The 


PROGRESS    DOWN    THE    ORINOCO.  245 

most  vindictive  cover  the  nail  of  the  thumb  with  the 
curare  poison,  the  slightest  scratch  being1  thus  suffi- 
cient to  produce  death.  When  this  crime  is  per- 
petrated at  night  they  throw  the  body  into  the  river. 
"  Every  time,"  said  the  monk,  "  that  I  see  the  wo- 
men fetch  water  from  a  part  of  the  shore  to  which 
they  do  not  usually  go  for  it,  I  suspect  that  a  murder 
has  been  committed  in  my  mission." 

On  the  7th  June  the  travellers  took  leave  of  Father 
Ramon  Bueno,  whom  Humboldt  eulogizes  as  the 
only  one  of  ten  missionaries  of  Guiana  whom  they 
had  seen  who  appeared  to  be  attentive  to  any  thing 
that  regarded  the  natives.  The  night  was  passed  at 
the  island  of  Cucurupara,  to  the  east  of  which  is  the 
mouth  of  the  Cano  de  la  Tortuga.  On  its  southern 
bank  is  the  almost  deserted  station  of  San  Miguel 
de  la  Tortuga,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  Indians,  are  otters  with  a  very  fine 
fur,  and  lizards  with  two  feet. 

From  the  island  of  Cucurupara  to  Angostura,  the 
capital  of  Guiana,  a  distance  of  little  less  than  328 
miles,  the  travellers  were  only  nine  days  on  the 
water.  On  the  8th  June  they  landed  at  a  farm  op- 
posite the  mouth  of  the  Apure,  where  Humboldt  ob- 
tained some  good  observations  of  latitude  and  longi- 
tude ;  and  on  the  9th  met  a  great  number  of  boats 
laden  with  goods,  on  their  way  to  that  river.  Here 
Don  Nicolas  Soto,  who  had  accompanied  them  on 
their  voyage  to  the  Rio  Negro,  took  leave  and  re- 
turned to  his  family.  As  they  advanced  the  popu- 
lation became  more  considerable,  consisting  almost 
exclusively  of  whites,  negroes,  and  mulattoes.  On 
the  llth  they  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Caura, 
near  which  is  a  small  lake  formed  in  1790  by  the 
sinking  of  the  ground  in  consequence  of  an  earth- 
quake. The  Boca  del  Infierno  and  the  Raudal  de 
Camiseta,  a  series  of  whirlpools  and  rapids  caused 
by  a  chain  of  small  rocks,  were  the  only  remarkable 
features  that  occurred  until  they  reached  Angostura. 
A.  9 


246  ARRIVAL    AT    ANGOSTURA. 

On  arriving  at  the  capital,  they  hastened  to  present 
themselves  to  Don  Felipe  de  Ynciarte,  the  governor 
of  Guiana,  who  received  them  in  the  most  obliging 
manner.  A  painful  circumstance  forced  them  to 
remain  a  whole  month  in  this  place.  They  were 
both,  a  few  days  after  their  arrival,  attacked  by  a 
disorder,  which  in  M.  Bonpland  assumed  the  char- 
acter of  a  typhoid  fever.  A  mulatto  servant,  who 
had  attended  them  from  Cumana,  was  similarly 
affected.  His  death  was  announced  on  the  ninth 
day ;  but  he  had  only  fallen  into  a  state  of  insensi- 
bility, which  lasted  several  hours,  and  was  followed 
by  a  salutary  crisis.  Humboldt  escaped  with  a  very 
violent  attack,  during  which  he  was  made  to  take  a 
mixture  of  honey  and  the  extract  of  Cortex  angostura. 
He  recovered  on  the  following  day.  His  fellow- 
traveller  remained  in  a  very  alarming  state  for  several 
weeks,  but  retained  sufficient  strength  of  mind  to 
prescribe  for  himself.  His  fever  was  incessant,  and 
complicated  with  dysentery ;  but,  in  his  case  too,  the 
issue  was  favourable.  At  this  period  no  epidemic 
prevailed  in  the  town,  and  the  air  was  salubrious ;  so 
that  the  germ  of  the  disease  had  probably  been 
caught  in  the  damp  forests  of  the  Upper  Orinoco. 

Angostura,  so  named  from  its  being  placed  on  a 
narrow  part  of  the  river,  stands  at  the  foot  of  a  hill 
of  hornblende-slate  destitute  of  vegetation.  The 
streets  are  regular,  and  generally  parallel  to  the 
course  of  the  stream.  The  houses  are  high,  agree- 
able, and  built  of  stone ;  although  the  town  is  not 
exempt  from  earthquakes.  At  the  period  of  this 
visit  the  population  was  only  6000.  There  is  little 
variety  in  the  surrounding  scenery ;  but  the  view  of 
the  river  is  singularly  majestic.  When  the  waters 
are  high  they  inundate  the  quays,  and  it  sometimes 
happens  that  even  in  the  streets  imprudent  persons 
fall  a  prey  to  the  crocodiles,  which  are  very  nume- 
rous. 

Humboldt  relates  that,  at  the  time  of  his  stay  at 


CROCODILES.  247 

Angostura,  an  Indian  from  the  island  of  Margarita 
having  gone  to  anchor  his  canoe  in  a  cove  where 
there  were  not  three  feet  of  water,  a  very  fierce 
crocodile  that  frequented  the  spot  seized  him  by  the 
leg  and  carried  him  off.  With  astonishing  courage 
he  searched  for  a  knife  in  his  pocket,  but  not  finding 
it,  thrust  his  fingers  into  the  animal's  eyes.  The 
monster,  however,  did  not  let  go  his  hold,  but  plunged 
to  the  bottom  of  the  river,  and,  after  drowning  his 
victim,  came  to  the  surface  and  dragged  the  body  to 
an  island. 

The  number  of  individuals  who  perish  annually 
in  this  manner  is  very  great,  especially  in  villages 
where  the  neighbouring  grounds  are  inundated.  The 
same  crocodiles  remain  long  in  the  same  places,  and 
become  more  daring  from  year  to  year,  especially, 
as  the  Indians  assert,  if  they  have  once  tasted  human 
flesh.  They  are  not  easily  killed,  as  their  skin  is 
impenetrable, — the  throat  and  the  space  beneath  the 
shoulder  being  the  only  parts  where  a  ball  or  spear 
can  enter.  The  natives  catch  them  with  large  iron 
hooks  baited  with  meat,  and  attached  to  a  chain  fas- 
tened to  a  tree.  After  the  animal  has  struggled  for 
a  considerable  time,  they  attack  it  with  lances. 

Affecting  examples  are  related  of  the  intrepidity 
of  African  slaves  in  attempting  to  rescue  their  mas- 
ters from  the  jaws  of  these  voracious  reptiles.  Not 
many  years  ago,  in  the  llanos  of  Calabozo,  a  negro, 
attracted  by  the  cries  of  his  owner,  armed  himself 
with  a  long  knife,  and,  plunging  into  the  river,  forced 
the  animal,  by  scooping  out  its  eyes,  to  leave  its 
prey  and  take  to  flight.  The  natives,  being  daily 
exposed  to  similar  dangers,  think  little  of  them. 
They  observe  the  manners  of  the  crocodile  as  the 
torero  studies  those  of  the  bull ;  and  quietly  calcu- 
late the  motions  of  the  enemy,  its  means 'of  attack, 
and  the  degree  of  its  audacity.  ^ 

The  general  nature  of  the  vast  regions  bordering 
on  the  Orinoco  may  be  sufficiently  learned  from  the 


248        JOURNEY  FROM  ANGOSTURA. 

above  condensed  narrative;  and  we  think  it  unne- 
cessary to  follow  our  learned  author  through  his 
description  of  that  portion  of  the  river  which  extends 
from  Angostura  to  its  mouths,  especially  as  it  is  not 
founded  on  personal  observation. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Journey  across  the  Llanos  to  New-Barcelona. 

Peparture  from  Angostura— Village  of  Cari— Natives— New-Barcelona— 
Hot  Springs — Crocodiles — Passage  to  Cumana. 

IT  was  night  when  our  travellers  for  the  last  time 
crossed  the  bed  of  the  Orinoco.  They  intended  to 
rest  near  the  little  fort  of  San  Rafael,  and  in  the 
morning  begin  their  journey  over  the  llanos  of 
Venezuela,  with  the  view  of  proceeding  to  Cumana 
or  New-Barcelona,  whence  they  might  sail  to  the 
island  of  Cuba,  and  thence  again  to  Mexico.  There 
they  purposed  to  remain  a  year,  and  to  take  a  passage 
in  the  galleon  from  Acapulco  to  Manilla. 

The  botanical  and  geological  collections  which 
they  had  brought  from  Esmeraldaand  the  Rio  Negro 
had  greatly  increased  their  baggage  ;  and  as  it  would 
have  been  hazardous  to  lose  sight  of  such  stores, 
they  journeyed  but  slowly  over  the  deserts,  which 
they  crossed  in  thirteen  days.  This  eastern  part  of 
the  llanos,  between  Angostura  and  Barcelona,  is 
similar  to  that  already  described  on  the  passage  from 
the  valley  of  Aragua  to  San  Fernando  de  Apure  ;  but 
the  breeze  is  felt  with  greater  force,  although  at  this 
period  it  had  ceased.  They  spent  the  first  night  at 
the  house  of  a  Frenchman,  a  native  of  Lyons,  who 
received  them  with  the  kindest  hospitality.  He  was 
employed  in  joining  wood  by  means  of  a  kind  of  glue 


TO    NEW-BARCELONA CARIES.  249 

called  guayca,  which  resembles  the  best  made  from 
animal  substances,  and  is  found  between  the  bark 
and  alburnum  of  the  Combretum  guayca,  a  kind  of 
creeping  plant. 

On  the  third  day  they  arrived  at  the  missions  of 
Cari.  Some  showers  had  recently  revived  the  vege- 
tation. A  thick  turf  was  formed  of  small  grasses 
and  herbaceous  sensitive  plants,  while  a  few  fan- 
palms,  rhopalas,  and  malpighias,  rose  at  great  dis- 
tances from  each  other.  The  humid  spots  were 
distinguishable  by  groups  of  mauritias,  which  were 
loaded  with  enormous  clusters  of  red  fruit.  The 
plain  undulated  from  the  effect  of  mirage,  the  heat 
was  excessive,  and  the  travellers  found  temporary 
relief  under  the  shade  of  the  trees,  which  had,  how- 
ever, attracted  numerous  birds  and  insects. 

On  the  13th  July  they  arrived  at  the  village  of 
Cari,  where,  as  usual,  they  lodged  with  the  clergy- 
man, who  could  scarcely  comprehend  how  natives 
of  the  north  of  Europe  should  have  arrived  at  his 
dwelling  from  the  frontiers  of  Brazil.  They  found 
more  than  500  Caribs  in  the  hamlet,  and  saw  many 
more  at  the  surrounding  missions.  They  were  of 
large  stature,  from  five  feet  nine  inches  to  six  feet 
two.  The  men  had  the  lower  part  of  the  body 
wrapped  in  a  piece  of  dark-blue  cloth,  while  the 
women  had  merely  a  narrow  band.  This  race  differs 
from  the  other  Indians,  not  only  in  being  taller,  but 
also  in  the  greater  regularity  of  their  features,  in 
having  the  nose  less  flattened,  and  the  cheek-bones 
less  prominent.  The  hair  of  the  head  is  partially 
shaven,  only  a  circular  tuft  being  left  on  the  top, — 
a  custom  that  might  be  supposed  to  have  been  bor- 
rowed from  the  monks,  but  which  is  equally  preva- 
lent among  those  who  have  preserved  their  inde- 
pendence. Both  males  and  females  are  careful  to 
ornament  their  persons  with  paint.  The  Caribs, 
once  so  powerful,  now  inhabit  but  a  small  part  of 
the  country  which  they  occupied  at  the  time  when 


250  CAR1B    MISSIONS. 

America  was  discovered.  They  have  been  exter- 
minated in  the  West  India  islands  and  the  coasts  of 
Parien,  but  in  the  provinces  of  New-Barcelona  and 
Spanish  Guiana  have  formed  populous  villages,  under 
the  government  of  the  missions.  Humboldt  esti- 
mates the  number  inhabiting  the  llanos  of  Piritoo 
and  the  banks  of  the  Caroni  and  Cuyuni  at  more 
than  35,000,  and  the  total  amount  of  the  pure  race  at 
40,000. 

The  missionary  led  the  travellers  into  several 
huts,  where  they  found  the  greatest  order  and  clean- 
liness, but  were  shocked  by  the  torments  that  the 
women  inflicted  on  their  infants,  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  the  flesh  in  alternate  bands  from  the  ankle 
to  the  top  of  the  thigh ;  a  practice  which  the  monks 
had  in  vain  attempted  to  abolish.  This  effect  was 
produced  by  narrow  ligatures,  which  seemed  to 
obstruct  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  although  it  did 
not  weaken  the  action  of  the  muscles.  The  fore- 
head, however,  wras  not  flattened,  but  left  in  its 
natural  form. 

On  leaving  the  mission  the  philosophers  had  some 
difficulty  in  settling  with  their  Indian  muleteers,  who 
had  discovered  among  the  baggage  the  skeletons 
brought  from  the  cavern  of  Ataruipe,  and  were  per- 
suaded that  the  animals  which  carried  such  a  load 
would  perish  on  the  journey.  The  Rio  Cari  was 
crossed  in  a  boat,  and  the  Rio  de  Agua  Clara  by 
fording.  The  same  objects  everywhere  recurred; 
huts  constructed  of  reeds  and  roofed  with  skins ; 
mounted  men  guarding  the  herds:  cattle,  horses, 
and  mules  running  half  wild.  No  sheep  or  goats 
were  seen,  these  animals  being  unable  to  escape  from 
the  jaguars. 

On  the  15th  they  arrived  at  the  Villa  del  Pao, 
where  they  found  some  fruit-trees  as  well  as  cocoa- 
palms,  which  properly  belong  to  the  coast.  As  they 
advanced  the  sky  became  clearer,  the  soil  more 
dusty,  and  the  atmosphere  more  fiery.  The  intense 


ROBBERS— NEW-BAHCELONA.  251 

heat,  however,  was  not  entirely  owing  to  the  tent* 
perature  of  the  air,  but  arose  partly  from  the  fine 
sand  mingled  with  it.  On  the  night  of  the  16th  they 
rested  at  the  Indian  village  of  Santa  Cruz  de  Ca* 
chipo.  The  warmth  had  increased  so  much  that 
they  would  have  preferred  travelling  by  night ;  but 
the  country  was  infested  by  robbers,  who  murdered 
the  whites  that  fell  into  their  hands.  These  were 
malefactors  who  had  escaped  from  the  prisons  on. 
the  coast  and  from  the  missions,  and  lived  in  the 
llanos  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  of  the  Bedouin 
Arabs.  Those  vast  plains,  Humboldt  thinks,  can 
hardly  ever  be  subjected  to  cultivation,  although  he 
is  persuaded  that  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  if  placed  under 
a  government  favourable  to  industry,  they  will  lose 
much  of  the  wild  aspect  which  they  have  hitherto 
retained* 

After  travelling  three  days  they  began  to  perceive 
the  chain  of  the  mountains  of  Cumana,  which  sepa* 
rates  the  llanos  from  the  coast  of  the  Caribbean  Sea< 
It  appeared  at  first  like  a  fog-bank,  which  by  de- 
grees condensed,  assumed  a  bluish  tint,  and  became 
bounded  by  sinuous  outlines.  Although  the  llanos 
of  Venezuela  are  bordered  on  the  south  by  granitic 
mountains,  exhibiting  in  their  broken  summits  traces 
of  violent  convulsions,  no  blocks  were  found  scat- 
tered upon  them.  The  same  remark  is  to  be  made 
in  regard  to  the  other  great  plains  of  South  America* 
These  circumstances,  as  Humboldt  remarks,  seem 
to  prove  that  the  granitic  masses  scattered  over1 
the  sandy  plains  of  the  Baltic  are  a  local  phenome- 
non, and  must  have  originated  in  some  great  con- 
vulsion which  took  place  in  the  northern  regions  of 
Europe. 

On  the  23d  July  they  arrived  at  the  town  of  New- 
Barcelona,  less  fatigued  by  the  heat,  to  which  they 
had  been  so  long  accustomed,  than  harassed  by  the 
sand-wind,  that  causes  painful  chaps  in  the  skin/ 
They  were  kindly  received  by  a  wealthy  merchant? 


250  CAR1B    MISSIONS. 

America  was  discovered.  They  have  been  exter- 
minated in  the  West  India  islands  and  the  coasts  of 
Darien,  but  in  the  provinces  of  New-Barcelona  and 
Spanish  Guiana  have  formed  populous  villages,  under 
the  government  of  the  missions.  Humboldt  esti- 
mates the  number  inhabiting  the  llanos  of  Piritoo 
and  the  banks  of  the  Caroni  and  Cuyuni  at  more 
than  35,000,  and  the  total  amount  of  the  pure  race  at 
40,000. 

The  missionary  led  the  travellers  into  several 
huts,  where  they  found  the  greatest  order  and  clean- 
liness, but  were  shocked  by  the  torments  that  the 
women  inflicted  on  their  infants,  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  the  flesh  in  alternate  bands  from  the  ankle 
to  the  top  of  the  thigh ;  a  practice  which  the  monks 
had  in  vain  attempted  to  abolish.  This  effect  was 
produced  by  narrow  ligatures,  which  seemed  to 
obstruct  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  although  it  did 
not  weaken  the  action  of  the  muscles.  The  fore- 
head, however,  was  not  flattened,  but  left  in"  its 
natural  form. 

On  leaving  the  mission  the  philosophers  had  some 
difficulty  in  settling  with  their  Indian  muleteers,  who 
had  discovered  among  the  baggage  the  skeletons 
brought  from  the  cavern  of  Ataruipe,  and  were  per- 
suaded that  the  animals  which  carried  such  a  load 
would  perish  on  the  journey.  The  Rio  Cari  was 
crossed  in  a  boat,  and  the  Rio  de  Agua  Clara  by 
fording.  The  same  objects  everywhere  recurred; 
huts  constructed  of  reeds  and  roofed  with  skins ; 
mounted  men  guarding  the  herds:  cattle,  horses, 
and  mules  running  half  wild.  No  sheep  or  goats 
were  seen,  these  animals  being  unable  to  escape  from 
the  jaguars. 

On  the  15th  they  arrived  at  the  Villa  del  Pao, 
where  they  found  some  fruit-trees  as  well  as  cocoa- 
palms,  which  properly  belong  to  the  coast.  As  they 
advanced  the  sky  became  clearer,  the  soil  more 
dusty,  and  the  atmosphere  more  fiery.  The  intense 


ROBBERS— NEW-BAHCELONA.  25 1 

heat,  however,  was  not  entirely  owing  to  the  tent* 
perature  of  the  air,  but  arose  partly  from  the  fine 
sand  mingled  with  it.  On  the  night  of  the  16th  they 
rested  at  the  Indian  village  of  Santa  Cruz  de  Ca* 
chipo.  The  warmth  had  increased  so  much  that 
they  would  have  preferred  travelling  by  night ;  but 
the  country  was  infested  by  robbers,  who  murdered 
the  whites  that  fell  into  their  hands.  These  were 
malefactors  who  had  escaped  from  the  prisons  on 
the  coast  and  from  the  missions,  and  lived  in  the 
llanos  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  of  the  Bedouin 
Arabs.  Those  vast  plains,  Humboldt  thinks,  can 
hardly  ever  be  subjected  to  cultivation,  although  he 
is  persuaded  that  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  if  placed  under 
a  government  favourable  to  industry,  they  will  lose 
much  of  the  wild  aspect  which  they  have  hitherto 
retained* 

After  travelling  three  days  they  began  to  perceive 
the  chain  of  the  mountains  of  Cumana,  which  sepa* 
rates  the  llanos  from  the  coast  of  the  Caribbean  Sea* 
It  appeared  at  first  like  a  fog-bank,  which  by  de- 
grees condensed,  assumed  a  bluish  tint,  and  became 
bounded  by  sinuous  outlines.  Although  the  llanos 
of  Venezuela  are  bordered  on  the  south  by  granitic 
mountains,  exhibiting  in  their  broken  summits  traces 
of  violent  convulsions,  no  blocks  were  found  scat- 
tered upon  them.  The  same  remark  is  to  be  made 
in  regard  to  the  other  great  plains  of  South  America. 
These  circumstances,  as  Humboldt  remarks,  seem 
to  prove  that  the  granitic  masses  scattered  over1 
the  sandy  plains  of  the  Baltic  are  a  local  phenome- 
non, and  must  have  originated  in  some  great  con- 
vulsion which  took  place  in  the  northern  regions  of 
Europe. 

On  the  23d  July  they  arrived  at  the  town  of  New- 
Barcelona,  less  fatigued  by  the  heat,  to  which  they 
had  been  so  long  accustomed,  than  harassed  by  the 
sand-wind,  that  causes  painful  chaps  in  the  skin, 
They  were  kindly  received  by  a  wealthy  merchant? 


252  HOT-SPRINGS CROCODILES. 

of  French  extraction,  Don  Pedro  Lavi6.  This  town 
was  founded  in  1637,  and  in  1800  contained  more 
than  16,000  inhabitants.  The  climate  is  not  so  hot 
as  that  of  Cumana,  but  very  damp,  and  in  the  rainy 
season  rather  unhealthy.  M.  Bonpland  had  by  this 
time  regained  his  strength  and  activity,  but  his  com- 
panion suffered  more  at  Barcelona  than  he  had  done 
at  Angostura.  One  of  those  extraordinary  tropical 
rains,  during  which  drops  of  enormous  size  fall  at 
sunset,  had  produced  uneasy  sensations  that  seemed 
to  threaten  an  attack  of  typhus,  a  disease  then  preva- 
lent on  the  coast.  They  remained  nearly  a  month 
at  Barcelona,  where  they  found  their  friend  Juan 
Gonzales,  who,  having  resolved  to  go  to  Europe, 
meant  to  accompany  them  as  far  as  Cuba. 

At  the  distance  of  seven  miles  to  the  south-east 
of  New-Barcelona  rises  a  chain  of  lofty  mountains 
connected  with  the  Cerro  del  Bergantin,  which  is 
seen  from  Cumana.  When  Humboldt's  health  was 
sufficiently  restored,  the  travellers  made  an  excur- 
sion in  that  direction,  for  the  purpose  of  examining 
the  hot-springs  in  the  neighbourhood.  These  are 
impregnated  with  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  and  issue 
from  a  quartzose  sandstone,  lying  on  a  compact  lime- 
stone resembling  that  of  Jura.  The  temperature  of 
the  water  was  109 '8°.  Their  host  had  lent  them 
one  of  his  finest  saddle-horses,  warning  them  at  the 
same  time  not  to  ford  the  little  river  of  Narigual, 
which  is  infested  with  crocodiles.  They  passed 
over  by  a  kind  of  bridge  formed  of  the  trunks  of 
trees,  and  made  their  animals  swim,  holding  them 
by  the  bridles.  Humboldt's  suddenly  disappeared, 
and  the  guides  conjectured  that  it  had  been  seized 
by  the  caymans. 

The  crocodiles  of  the  Rio  Neveri  are  numerous, 
but  less  ferocious  than  those  of  the  Orinoco.  The 
people  of  New-Barcelona  convey  wood  to  market 
by  floating  the  logs  on  the  river,  while  the  proprie- 
tors swim  here  and  there  to  set  them  loose  when 


ARRIVAL   AT    CUMANA.  253 

they  are  stopped  by  the  banks.  This  could  not  be 
done  in  most  of  the  South  American  rivers  infested 
by  those  animals.  There  is  no  Indian  suburb  as  at 
Cumana,  and  the  few  natives  seen  in  the  town  are 
from  the  neighbouring  missions,  or  inhabitants  of 
huts  scattered  in  the  plain.  They  are  of  a  mixed 
race,  indolent,  and  addicted  to  drinkin'g. 

The  packet-boats  from  Corunna  to  Havana  and 
Mexico  had  been  due  three  months,  so  that  they 
were  supposed  to  have  been  taken  by  the  English 
cruisers  ;  when  our  travellers,  anxious  to  reach  Cu- 
mana, in  order  to  avail  themselves  of  the  first  op- 
portunity for  Vera  Cruz,  hired  an  open  vessel.  It 
was  laden  with  cacao,  and  carried  oa  a  contraband 
trade  with  the  island  of  Trinidad ;  for  which  reason 
the  proprietor  thought  he  had  nothing  to  fear  from 
the  British  ;  but  they  had  scarcely  reached  the  nar- 
row channel  between  the  continent  and  the  islands 
of  Borracha  and  the  Chimanas,  when  they  met  an 
armed  boat,  which,  hailing  them  at  a  great  distance, 
fired  some  musket-shot  at  them.  It  belonged  to  a 
privateer  of  Halifax,  and  the  travellers  were  forth- 
with carried  on  board  ;  but  while  Humboldtvwas  ne- 
gotiating in  the  cabin,  a  noise  was  heard  upon  deck, 
and  something  was  whispered  to  the  master,  who 
instantly  left  him  in  consternation.  An  English 
sloop  of  war,  the  Hawk,  had  come  up,  and  made 
signals  to  the  latter  to  bring  to  ;  which  he  not  having 
promptly  obeyed,  a  gun  was  fired,  and  a  midshipman 
sent  to  demand  the  reason.  Hurnboldt  accompanied 
this  officer  to  the  sloop,  where  Captain  Gamier  re- 
ceived him  with  the  greatest  kindness.  Next  day 
they  continued  their  voyage,  and  at  nine  in  the 
morning  reached  the  Gulf  of  Cariaco.  The  castle 
of  San  Antonio,  the  forest  of  cactuses,  the  scattered 
huts  of  the  Guayquerias,  and  all  the  features  of  a 
landscape  well  known  to  them,  rose  upon  the  view; 
and  as  they  landed  at  Cumana  they  were  greeted  by 
their  numerous  friends,  who  were  overjoyed  to  find 


254  NATIVE    ALUM. 

untrue  a  report  of  their  death  on  the  Orinoco,  which 
had  been  current  for  several  months.  The  port  was 
every  day  more  strictly  blockaded,  and  the  vain  ex- 
pectation of  Spanish  packets  retained  them  two 
months  and  a  half  longer  ;  during  which  time  they 
occupied  themselves  in  completing  their  investiga- 
tion of  the  plants  of  the  country,  in  examining  the 
geology  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  peninsula  of  Araya, 
and  in  making  astronomical  observations,  together 
with  experiments  on  refraction,  evaporation,  and  at- 
mospheric electricity.  They  also  sent  off  some  of 
their  more  valuable  collections  to  France. 

Having  been  informed  that  the  Indians  brought  to 
the  town  considerable  quantities  of  native  alum  found 
in  the  mountains,  they  made  an  excursion  for  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  its  position.  Disembarking 
near  Cape  Caney  they  inspected  the  old  salt-pit,  now 
converted  into  a  lake  by  an  irruption  of  the  sea,  the 
ruins  of  the  castle  of  Araya,  and  the  limestone- 
mountain  of  Barigon,  which  contained  fossil,  shells 
in  perfect  preservation.  When  they  visited  that 
peninsula  the  preceding  year,  there  was  a  dreadful 
scarcity  of  water.  But  during  their  absence  on  the 
Orinoco  it  had  rained  abundantly  on  various  parts 
along  the  coast;  and  the  remembrance  of  these 
showers  occupied  the  imagination  of  the  natives  as 
a  fall  of  meteoric  stones  would  engage  that  of  the 
naturalists  of  Europe. 

Their  Indian  guide  was  ignorant  of  the  situation 
of  the  alum,  and  they  wandered  for  eight  or  nine 
hours  among  the  rocks,  which  consisted  of  mica- 
slate  passing  into  clay-slate,  traversed  by  veins  of 
quartz,  and  containing  small  beds  of  graphite.  At 
length,  descending  towards  the  northern  coast  of 
the  peninsula,  they  found  the  substance  for  which 
they  were  searching,  in  a  ravine  of  very  difficult  ac- 
cess. Here  the  mica-slate  suddenly  changed  into 
carburetted  and  shining  clay-slate,  and  the  springs 
were  impregnated  with  yellow  oxide  of  iron.  The 


EUROPEAN    NATIONS    IN    AMERICA.  255 

sides  of  the  neighbouring  cliffs  were  covered  with 
capillary  crystals  of  sulphate  of  alumina,  and  real 
beds  two  inches  thick  of  native  alum,  extended  in 
the  clay-slate  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  The 
formation  appeared  to  be  primitive,  as  it  contained 
cyanite,  rutile,  and  garnets. 

Returning  to  Cumana,  they  made  preparations  for 
their  departure,  and  availing  themselves  of  an  Ameri- 
can vessel,  laden  at  New-Barcelona  for  Cuba,  they 
set  out  on  the  16th  November,  and  crossed  for  the 
third  time  the  Gulf  of  Cariaco.  The  night  was  cool 
and  delicious,  and  it  was  not  without  emotion  that 
they  saw  for  the  last  time  the  disk  of  the  moon  illu- 
minating the  summits  of  the  cocoa-trees  along  the 
banks  of  the  Manzanares.  The  breeze  was  strong, 
and  in  less  than  six  hours  they  anchored  near  the 
Morro  of  New-Barcelona. 

The  continental  part  of  the  New  World  is  divided 
between  three  nations  of  European  origin,  of  which 
one,  the  most  powerful,  is  of  Germanic  race,  and 
the  two  others  belong  to  Latin  Europe.  The  latter 
are  more  numerous  than  the  former ;  the  inhabitants 
of  Spanish  and  Portuguese  America  constituting  a 
population  double  that  of  the  regions  possessed  by 
the  English.  The  French,  Dutch,  and  Danish  pos- 
sessions of  the  New  Continent  are  of  small  extent, 
and  the  Russian  colonies  are  as  yet  of  little  impor- 
tance. The  free  Africans  of  Hayti  are  the  only 
other  people  possessed  of  territory,  excepting  the 
native  Indians.  The  British  and  Portuguese  colo- 
nists have  peopled  only  the  coasts  opposite  to  Eu- 
rope ;  but  the  Spaniards  have  passed  over  the  Andes, 
and  made  settlements  in  the  most  western  provinces, 
where  alone  they  discovered  traces  of  ancient  civili- 
zation. In  the  eastern  districts  the  inhabitants  who 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  two  former  nations  were 
wandering  tribes  of  hunters,  while  in  the  remoter 
parts  the  Spaniards  found  agricultural  states  and 
flourishing  empires  ;  and  these  circumstances  have 


256  VOYAGE  TO    CUBA. 

greatly  influenced  the  present  condition  of  these 
countries.  Among  other  instances  may  be  men- 
tioned the  almost  total  exclusion  of  African  slaves 
from  the  latter  colonies,  and  the  comfortable  con- 
dition of  the  natives  of  American  race,  who  live  by 
agriculture,  and  are  governed  by  European  laws. 

But  with  respect  to  the  political  constitution  and 
relations  of  the  provinces  visited  by  the  travellers, 
it  is  not  expedient  here  to  enter  into  the  details 
which  they  have  given,  more  especially  as  those 
colonies  have  lately  undergone  revolutions  that  have 
converted  them  into  independent  states,  the  history 
of  which  would  afford  materials  for  many  volumes. 
The  very  interesting  sketch  of  the  physical  con- 
stitution of  South  America  presented  by  Humboldt 
must  also  be  passed  over,  because,  in  the  condensed 
form  to  which  it  would  necessarily  be  reduced,  it 
could  not  afford  an  adequate  idea  of  the  subject.  We 
must  therefore,  with  our  travellers,  take  leave  of 
Terra  Firma,  and  accompany  them  on  their  passage 
to  Havana. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

Passage  to  Havana,  and  Residence  in  Cuba. 

Passage  from  New-Barcelona  to  Havana — Description  of  the  latter — Ex- 
tent of  Cuba — Geological  Constitution—  Vegetation — Climate— Popula- 
tion—Agriculture — Exports — Preparations  for  joining  Captain  Baudin's 
Expedition—  Journey  to  Batabano,  and  Voyage  to  Trinidad  de  Cuba. 

HUMBOLDT  and  his  companion  sailed  from  the  Road 
of  New-Barcelona  on  the  24th  November  at  nine  in 
the  evening,  and  next  day  at  noon  reached  the  island 
of  Tortuga,  remarkable  for  its  lowness  and  want  of 
vegetation.  On  the  26th  there  was  a  dead  calm, 
and  about  nine  in  the  morning  a  fine  halo  formed 


ARRIVAL   AT   HAVANA.  257 

round  the  sun,  while  the  temperature  of  the  air  fell 
three  degrees.  The  circle  of  this  meteor,  which 
was  one  degree  in  breadth,  displayed  the  most  beau- 
tiful colours  of  the  rainbow,  while  its  interior  and 
the  whole  vault  of  the  sky  was  azure  without  the 
least  haze.  The  sea  was  covered  with  a  bluish  scum, 
which  under  the  microscope  appeared  to  be  formed 
of  filaments,  that  seemed  to  be  fragments  of  fuci. 
On  the  27th  they  passed  near  the  island  of  Orchila, 
composed  of  gneiss  and  covered  with  plants,  and 
towards  sunset  discovered  the  summits  of  the  Roca 
de  Afuera,  over  which  the  clouds  were  accumulated. 
Indications  of  stormy  weather  increased,  the  waves 
rose,  and  waterspouts  threatened.  On  the  night  of 
the  2d  December  a  curious  optical  phenomenon  pre- 
sented itself.  The  full  moon  was  very  high.  On 
its  side,  forty-five  minutes  before  its  passage  over 
the  meridian,  a  great  arc  suddenly  appeared,  having 
the  prismatic  colours,  but  of  a  gloomy  aspect.  It 
seemed  higher  than  the  moon,  had  a  breadth  of 
nearly  two  degrees,  and  remained  stationary  for 
several  minutes  ;  after  which  it  gradually  descended, 
and  sank  below  the  horizon.  The  sailors  were  filled 
with  astonishment  at  this  moving  arch,  which  they 
supposed  to  announce  wind.  Next  night  M.  Bon- 
pland  and  several  passengers  saw,  at  the  distance  of 
a  quarter  of  a  mile,  a  small  flame,  which  ran  on  the 
surface  of  the  sea  towards  the  south-west,  and  illu- 
minated the  atmosphere.  On  the  4th  and  6th  they 
encountered  rough  weather,  with  heavy  rain,  ac- 
companied by  thunder,  and  were  in  considerable 
danger  on  the  bank  of  Vibora.  At  length,  on  the 
19th,  they  anchored  in  the  port  of  Havana,  after  a 
boisterous  passage  of  twenty-five  days. 

Cuba  is  the  largest  of  the  West  India  islands,  and 
on  account  of  its  great  fertility,  its  naval  establish- 
ments, the  nature  of  its  population — of  which  three- 
fifths  are  composed  of  freemen, — and  its  geographi- 
cal position,  is  of  great  political  importance.  Of  all 

y  2 


258  HAVANA. 

the  Spanish  colonies  it  is  that  which  has  most  pros- 
pered; insomuch,  that  not  only  has  its  revenue  suf- 
ficed for  its  own  wants,  but  during  the  struggle 
between  the  mother-country  and  her  continental 
provinces,  it  furnished  considerable  sums  to  the 
former. 

The  appearance  which  Havana  presents  at  the 
entrance  of  the  port  is  exceedingly  beautiful  and 
picturesque.  The  opening  is  only  about  426  yards 
wide,  defended  by  fortifications  ;  after  which  a  basin, 
upwards  of  two  miles  in  its  greatest  diameter,  and 
communicating  with  three  creeks,  expands  to  the 
view.  The  city  is  built  on  a  promontory,  bounded 
on  the  north  by  the  fort  of  La  Punta,  and  on  the 
south  by  the  arsenals.  On  the  western  side  it  is 
protected  by  two  castles,  placed  at  the  distance  of 
1407  and  2643  yards,  the  intermediate  space  being 
occupied  by  the  suburbs.  The  public  edifices  are 
less  remarkable  for  their  beauty  than  for  the  solidity 
of  their  construction,  and  the  streets  are  in  general 
narrow  and  unpaved,  in  consequence  of  which  they 
are  extremely  dirty  and  disagreeable.  But  there 
are  two  fine  public  walks  to  which  the  inhabitants 
resort. 

Although  the  town  of  Havana,  properly  so  called, 
is  only  1918  yards  long  and  1066  broad,  it  con- 
tains more  than  44,000  inhabitants.  The  two  great 
suburbs  of  Jesu-Maria  and  the  Salud  accommodate 
nearly  an  equal  population.  In  1810  the  amount 
was  as  follows  : — 

Whites 41,227 

Free  Pardos,  or  copper- col  cured  men  . .  9,743  ) 

Free  Blacks 16.606  \  ' 

Pardos  Slaves 2,297  ( 


Black  Slaves  .........................  26,431  \ 


.28,728 
96,304 


There  are  two  hospitals  in  the  town,  the  number 
of  sick  admitted  into  which  is  considerable.     Owing 


EXTENT  AND  GEOLOGY  OF  CUBA.      259 

to  the  heat  of  the  climate,  the  filth  of  the  town,  and 
the  influence  of  the  shore,  there  is  usually  a  great 
accumulation  of  disease,  and  the  yellow  fever  or 
black  vomiting  is  prevalent.  The  markets  are  well 
supplied. 

A  peculiar  character  is  given  to  the  landscape  in 
the  vicinity  of  Havana  by  the  palma  real  (Oreo- 
doxa  regid),  the  trunk  of  which,  enlarged  a  little  to- 
wards the  middle,  attains  a  height  varying  from  60 
to  85  feet,  and  is  crowned  by  pinnated  leaves  rising 
perpendicularly,  and  curved  at  the  point.  Numerous 
country-houses  of  light  and  elegant  construction 
surround  the  bay,  to  which  the  proprietors  retreat 
when  the  yellow  fever  rages  in  the  town. 

The  island  of  Cuba  is  nearly  as  large  as  Portugal ;  4 
its  greatest  length  being  783^  miles,  and  its  mean 
breadth  51  f  miles.  More  than  four-fifths  of  its  ex- 
tent is  composed  of  low  lands ;  but  it  is  traversed 
in  various  directions  by  ranges  of  mountains,  the 
highest  of  which  are  said  to  attain  an  altitude  of 
7674  feet.  The  western  part  consists  of  granite, 
gneiss,  and  primitive  slates ;  which,  as  well  as  the 
central  district,  contains  two  formations  of  compact 
limestone,  one  of  argillaceous  sandstone,  and  an- 
other of  gypsum.  The  first  of  these  presents  large 
caves  near  Matanzas  and  Jaruco,  and  is  filled  with 
numerous  species  of  fossils.  The  secondary  forma- 
tions to  the  east  of  the  Havana  are  pierced  by 
syenitic  and  euphotide  rocks,  accompanied  with  ser- 
pentine. No  volcanic  eruptions,  properly  so  called, 
have  hitherto  been  discovered. 

Owing  to  the  cavernous  structure  of  the  limestone 
deposites,  the  great  inclination  of  their  strata,  the 
small  breadth  of  the  island,  and  the  frequency  and 
nakedness  of  the  plains,  there  are  very  few  rivers  of 
any  magnitude,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  territory 
is  subject  to  severe  droughts.  Yet  the  undulating 
surface  of  the  country,  the  continually  renewed  ver- 
dure, and  the  distribution  of  vegetable  forms,  give 


260        VEGETATION,    CLIMATE,    POPULATION, 

rise  to  the  most  varied  and  beautiful  landscapes. 
The  hills  and  savannas  are  decorated  by  palms  of 
several  species,  trees  of  other  families,  and  shrubs 
constantly  covered  with  flowers.  Wild  orange-trees 
ten  or  fifteen  feet  in  height,  and  bearing  a  small  fruit, 
are  common,  and  probably  existed  before  the  intro- 
duction of  the  cultivated  variety  by  Europeans.  A 
species  of  pine  (Pinus  occidentalis)  occurs  here  and 
in  St.  Domingo,  but  has  not  been  seen  in  any  of  the 
other  West  India  islands. 

The  climate  of  Havana,  although  tropical,  is 
marked  by  an  unequal  distribution  of  heat  at  different 
periods  of  the  year,  indicating  a  transition  to  the 
climates  of  the  temperate  zone.  The  mean  tem- 
perature is  78*3°,  but  in  the  interior  only  73 '4°.  The 
hottest  months,  July  and  August,  do  not  give  a 
greater  average  than  82 '4°,  and  the  coldest,  Decem- 
ber and  January,  present  the  mean  of  69 '8°.  In 
summer  the  thermometer  does  not  rise  above  82° 
or  86°,  and  its  depression  in  winter  so  low  as  50°  or 
53*5°  is  rare.  When  the  north  wind  blows  several 
weeks,  ice  is  sometimes  formed  at  night  at  a  little 
distance  from  the  coast,  at  an  inconsiderable  eleva- 
tion above  the  sea.  Yet  the  great  lowerings  of 
temperature  which  occasionally  take  place  are  of  so 
short  duration,  that  the  palm-trees,  bananas,  or  the 
sugar-cane  do  not  suffer  from  them.  Snow  never 
falls,  and  hail  so  rarely  that  it  is  only  observed  dur- 
ing thunder-storms,  and  with  blasts  from  the  S.S.W. 
once  in  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  The  changes  how- 
ever are  very  rapid,  and  the  inhabitants  complain 
of  cold  when  the  thermometer  falls  quickly  to  70°. 
Hurricanes  are  of  much  less  frequent  occurrence  in 
Cuba  than  in  the  other  W'est  India  islands. 

In  1817  the  population  was  estimated  at  630,980. 
There  were  290,021  whites,  115,691  free  copper- 
coloured  men,  and  225,268  slaves.  The  original 
inhabitants  have  entirely  disappeared,  as  in  all  the 
other  West  India  islands.  Intellectual  cultivation 


AND    AGRICULTURE    OF    CUBA.  261 

is  almost  entirely  restricted  to  the  whites ;  and 
although  in  Havana  the  first  society  is  not  per- 
ceptibly inferior  to  that  of  the  richest  commercial 
cities  in  Europe,  a  rudeness  of  manners  prevails  in 
the  small  towns  and  plantations. 

The  common  cereal  grasses  are  cultivated  in 
Cuba,  together  with  the  tropical  productions  peculiar 
to  these  countries  ;  but  the  principal  exports  consist 
of  tobacco,  coffee,  sugar,  and  wax.  The  sugar-cane 
is  planted  in  the  rainy  season,  from  July  to  October, 
and  cut  from  February  to  May.  The  rapid  diminu- 
tion of  wood  in  the  island  has  caused  the  want  of 
fuel  to  be  felt  in  the  manufacture  of  sugar,  and 
Humboldt,  during  his  stay,  attempted  several  new 
constructions  with  the  view  of  diminishing  the  ex- 
penditure of  it.* 

The  tobacco  of  Cuba  is  celebrated  in  every  part 
of  Europe.  The  districts  which  produce  the  most 
aromatic  kind  are  situated  to  the  west  of  the 
Havana,  in  the  Vuelta  de  Abago ;  but  that  grown 
to  the  east  of  the  capital  on  the  banks  of  the  Mayari, 
in  the  province  of  Santiago,  at  Himias,  and  in  other 
places,  is  also  of  excellent  quality.  In  1827  the 
produce  was  about  113/214  cwts.,  of  which  17,888 
were  exported.  The  value  of  this  commodity 
shipped  in  1828  was  105,991Z.  13s.  4d.,  and  in  1829, 
142,9107.  Cotton  and  indigo,  although  cultivated, 
are  not  to  any  extent  made  articles  of  commerce. 

Towards  the  end  of  April  the  travellers,  having 
finished  the  observations  which  they  had  proposed 
to  make,  were  on  the  point  of  sailing  to  Vera  Cruz ; 
but  intelligence  communicated  by  means  of  the 
public  papers  respecting  Captain  Baudin's  expedi- 
tion, led  them  to  relinquish  the  project  of  crossing 

*  By  the  custom-house  returns,  156,158,924  Ihs.  of  sugar  were  ex- 
ported from  Cuba  in  1327;  and  if  the  quantity  smuggled  be  estimated  at 
one-fourth  more,  the  total  amount  would  be  nearly  200,000,000  Ibs.  In 
the  same  year  the  exportation  of  coffee  amounted  to  upwards  of 
50,000,000  Ibs.,  but  it  has  since  fallen  off  considerably.— See  MaccuUoch's 
Diet,  of  Commerce ,  art.  Havana. 


262        DEPARTURE  FROM  HAVANA. 

Mexico  in  order  to  proceed  to  the  Philippine  Islands, 
It  had  been  announced  that  two  French  vessels,  the 
Geographe  and  the  Naturaliste,  had  sailed  for  Cape 
Horn,  and  that  they  were  to  go  along  the  coast  of 
Chili  and  Peru,  and  from  thence  to  New-Holland. 
Humboldt  had  promised  to  join  them  wherever  he 
could  reach  the  ships,  and  M.  Bonpland  resolved  to 
divide  their  plants  into  three  portions,  one  of  which 
was  sent  to  Germany  by  way  of  England,  another 
to  France  by  Cadiz,  and  the  third  left  in  Cuba. 
Their  friend  Fray  Juan  Gonzales,  an  estimable 
young  man,  who  had  followed  them  to  the  Havana 
on  his  way  to  Spain,  carried  part  of  their  collections 
with  him,  including  the  insects  found  on  the  Orinoco 
and  Rio  Negro ;  but  the  vessel  in  which  he  em- 
barked foundered  in  a  storm  on  the  coast  of  Africa. 
General  Don  Gonzalo  O'Farrill  being  then  in  Prussia 
as  minister  of  the  Spanish  court,  Humboldt  was  en- 
abled, through  the  agency  of  Don  Ygnacio,  the 
general's  brother,  to  procure  a  supply  of  money ; 
and  having  made  all  the  necessary  preparations  for 
the  new  enterprise,  freighted  a  Catalonian  sloop  for 
Porto  Bello,  or  Carthagena,  according  as  the  wea- 
ther should  permit. 

On  the  6th  of  March  the  travellers,  finding  that 
the  vessel  was  ready  to  receive  them,  set  out  for 
Batabano,  where  they  arrived  on  the  8th.  This  is 
a  poor  village,  surrounded  by  marshes,  covered  with 
rushes  and  plants  of  the  Iris  family,  among  which 
appear  here  and  there  a  few  stunted  palms.  The 
marshes  are  infested  by  two  species  of  crocodile, 
one  of  which  has  an  elongated  snout,  and  is  very 
ferocious.  The  back  is  dark-green,  the  belly  white, 
and  the  flanks  are  covered  with  yellow  spots. 

On  the  9th  March  our  travellers  again  set  sail  in  a 
small  sloop,  and  proceeded  through  the  Gulf  of  Ba- 
tabano, which  is  bounded  by  a  low  and  swampy 
coast.  Humboldt  employed  himself  in  examining 
the  influence  which  the  bottom  of  the  sea  produces 


TURTLE-FISHING*  263 

on  the  temperature  of  its  surface,  and  in  determin- 
ing the  position  of  some  remarkable  islands.  The 
water  of  the  gulf  was  so  shallow,  that  the  sloop 
often  struck ;  but  the  ground  being  soft  and  the 
weather  calm,  no  damage  was  sustained.  At  sunset 
they  anchored  near  the  pass  of  Don  Cristoval,  which 
was  entirely  deserted,  although  in  the  time  of  Co- 
lumbus it  was  possessed  by  fishermen.  The  inhab- 
itants of  Cuba  then  employed  a  singular  method  for 
procuring  turtles ;  they  fastened  a  long  cord  to  the 
tail  of  a  species  of  echineis  or  sticking-fish,  which 
has  a  flat  disk,  with  a  sucking  apparatus  on  its  head. 
By  means  of  this  it  stuck  to  the  turtle,  and  was 
pulled  ashore,  carrying  the  latter  with  it.  The  same 
artifice  is  resorted  to  by  the  natives  of  certain  parts 
of  the  African  coast. 

They  were  three  days  on  their  passage  through 
the  archipelago  of  the  Jardines  and  Jardinillos, 
small  islands  and  shoals  partly  covered  with  vegeta- 
tion :  remaining  at  anchor  during  the  night,  and  in 
the  day  visiting  those  which  were  of  most  easy  ac- 
cess. The  rocks  were  found  to  be  fragmentary, 
consisting  of  pieces  of  coral,  cemented  by  carbon* 
ate  of  lime,  and  interspersed  with  quartzy  sand.  On 
the  Cayo  Bonito,  where  they  first  landed,  they  ob- 
served a  layer  of  sand  and  broken  shells  five  or  six 
inches  thick,  cove'ring  a  formation  of  madrepore.  It 
was  shaded  by  a  forest  of  rhizophorae,  intermixed 
with  euphorbiae,  grasses,  and  other  plants,  together 
with  the  magnificent  Tournefortia  gnaphalioides,  with 
silvery  leaves  and  odoriferous  flowers.  The  sailors 
had  been  searching  for  langoustes  ;*  but  not  finding 
any,  avenged  themselves  on  the  young  pelicans 
perched  on  the  trees.  The  old  birds  hovered  around, 
uttering  hoarse  and  plaintive  cries,  and  the  young 
defended  themselves  with  vigour,  although  in  vain ; 
for  the  sailors,  armed  with  sticks  and  cutlasses, 

*  A  kind  of  shrimp,  or  lobster. 


264  CAYO    FLAMENCO RIO    GtJAURAfiO. 

made  cruel  havoc  among  them.  "  On  our  arrival,'* 
says  Huinbolct,  "  a  profound  calm  prevailed  on  this 
little  spot  of  earth ;  but  now  every  thing  seemed  to 
—Mr. n  has  passed  here." 

On  the  morning  of  the  llth  they  visited  the  Cayo 
Flamenco,  the  centre  of  which  is  depressed,  and 
only  15  inches  above  the  surface  of  the  sea.  The 
wafer  was  brackish,  while  in  other  cayos  it  is  quite 
fresh :  s  circumstance  difficult  to  be  accounted  for 
in  small  islands  scarcely  elevated  above  the  ocean, 
unless  the  springs  be  supposed  to  come  from  the 
neighbouring  coast  by  means  of  hydrostatic  pres- 
sure. Humboldt  was  informed  by  Don  Francisco  le 
Maur.  that  in  the  Bay  of  Xagua,  to  the  east  of  the 
Jardinillos.  fr  iTiishes  up  in  several  places 

from  the  bottom  with  such  force  as  to  prove  danger- 
ous for  small  can<  -els  sometimes  take  in 
supplies  from  them:  and  the  lamantins,  or  fresh- 
water cetacea.  abound  in  the  neighbourhood. 

To  the  east  of  Cape  Flamenco  they  passed  close 
to  the  Piedras  de  Diego  Perez,  and  in  the  evening 
landed  at  Cr.yo  de  Piedras,  two  rocks  forming 
the  eastern  extremity  of  the  Jardinillos,  on  which 
many  vessels  are  lost.  They  are  nearly  destitute 
of  shrubs,  the  shipwrecked  crews  having  cut  them 
down  to  make  signals.  Next  day,  turning  round  the 
passage  between  the  northern  cape  of  the  Cayo  and 
the  island  of  Cuba,  they  entered  a  sea  free  from 
breakers,  and  of  a  dark -blue  colour  :  the  increase  of 
temperature  in  which  indicated  a  great  augmenta- 
tion of  depth.  The  thermometer  was  at  79'2°  ; 
whereas  in  the  shoal-water  of  the  Jardinillos  it  had 
Iven  seen  as  1  v  s  ~C  7°,  the  air  being  from  77°  to 
80 '6°  during  :  Passing  in  succession  the 

marshy  coast  of  Camareos.  the  entrance  of  the 
Bahia  de  Xagua.  and  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  San  Juan, 
along  a  naked  and  desert  coast,  they  entered  on  the 
the  Rio  Guaurabo  to  land  their  pilot.  Disem- 
barking in  the  evening,  they  made  preparations  for 


RECEPTION   AT    TRINIDAD    OF    CUBA.  265 

observing  the  passage  of  certain  stars  over  the  me- 
ridian,  but  were  interrupted  by  some  merchants  that 
had  dined  on  board  a  foreign  ship  newly  arrived,  and 
who  invited  the  strangers  to  accompany  them  to  the 
town  ;  which  thney  did,  mounted  two  and  two  on  the 
same  horse.  The  road  to  Trinidad  is  nearly  five 
miles  in  length,  over  a  level  plain,  covered  with  a 
beautiful  vegetation,  to  which  the  Miraguama  palm, 
a  species  of  corypha,  gave  a  peculiar  character. 
The  houses  are  situated  on  a  steep  declivity,  about 
746  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  command  a 
magnificent  view  of  the  ocean,  the  two  ports,  a 
forest  of  palms,  and  the  mountains  of  San  Juan.  The 
travellers  were  received  with  the  kindest  hospitality 
by  the  administrator  of  the  Real  Hacienda,  M.  Mu- 
noz.  The  Teniente  Governador,  who  was  nephew 
to  the  celebrated  astronomer  Don  Antonio  Ulloa, 
gave  them  a  grand  entertainment,  at  which  they  met 
with  some  French  emigrants  of  Saint  Dorningo. 
The  evening  was  passed  very  agreeably  in  the  house 
of  one  of  the  richest  inhabitants,  Don  Antonio  Pa- 
dron,  where  they  found  assembled  all  the  select 
company  of  the  place.  Their  departure  was  very 
unlike  their  entrance  ;  for  the  municipality  caused 
them  to  be  conducted  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Gu- 
aurabo  in  a  splendid  carriage,  and  an  ecclesiastic 
dressed  in  velvet  celebrated  in  a  sonnet  their  voyage 
up  the  Orinoco. 

The  population  of  Trinidad,  with  the  surrounding 
farms,  was  stated  to  be  19,000.  It  has  two  ports  at 
the  distance  of  about  four  miles.  Puerto  Casilda 
and  Puerto  Guaurabo.  On  their  return  to  the  latter 
of  these  the  travellers  were  much  struck  by  the 
prodigious  number  of  phosphorescent  insects  which 
illuminated  the  grass  and  foliage.  These  insects 
(Elater  noctilucus)  are  occasionally  used  for  a  lamp, 
being  placed  in  a  calabash  perforated  with  holes ; 
and  a  young  woman  at  Trinidad  informed  them  that, 


266  DEPARTURE    FROM    CtfBA. 

during  a  long  passage  from  the  mainland,  she  always 
had  recourse  to  this  light  when  she  gave  her  child 
the  breast  at  night,  the  captain  not  allowing  any 
other  on  board,  for  fear  of  pirates. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Voyage  from  Cuba  to  Cartkagena. 

Passage  from  Trinidad  of  Cuba  to  Carthagena — Description  of  the  latter 
— Village  of  Turbaco — Air-volcanoes— Preparations  for  ascending  the 
Rio  Magdalena. 

LEAVING  the  island  of  Cuba,  the  travellers  pro- 
ceeded in  a  S.S.E.  direction,  and  on  the  morning  of 
the  17th  approached  the  group  of  the  Little  Cay- 
mans, in  the  neighbourhood  of  which  they  saw  nu- 
merous turtles  of  extraordinary  size,  accompanied 
by  multitudes  of  sharks.  Passing  a  second  time 
over  the  great  bank  of  Vibora,  they  remarked  that 
the  colour  of  the  troubled  waters  upon  it  was  of  a 
dirty-gray,  and  made  observations  on  the  changes  of 
temperature  at  the  surface  produced  by  the  varying 
depth  of  the  sea.  On  quitting  this  shoal  they  sailed 
between  the  Baxo  Nueva  and  the  lighthouse  of  Cam- 
boy.  The  weather  was  remarkably  fine,  and  the 
surface  of  the  bay  was  of  an  indigo-blue,  or  violet 
tint,  on  account  of  the  medusae  which  covered  it. 
Haloes  of  small  dimensions  appeared  round  the 
moon.  The  disappearance  of  one  of  them  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  formation  of  a  great  black  cloud, 
which  emitted  some  drops  of  rain ;  but  the  sky 
soon  resumed  its  serenity,  and  a  long  series  of  fall- 
ing-stars and  fireballs  were  seen  moving  in  a  direc- 
tion contrary  to  the  wind  in  the  lower  regions  of  the 
atmosphere,  which  blew  from  the  north.  During 


LANDING    AT    THE    RIO    SINU.  267 

the  whole  of  the  23d  March  not  a  single  cloud  was 
seen  in  the  firmament,  although  the  air  and  the  hori- 
zon were  tinged  with  a  fine  red  colour ;  but  towards 
evening  large  bluish  clouds  formed,  and  when  they 
disappeared,  converging  bands  of  fleecy  vapours  were 
seen  at  an  immense  height.  On  the  24th  they  en- 
tered the  kind  of  gulf  bounded  by  the  shores  of  Santa 
Martha  and  Costa  Rica,  which  is  frequently  agitated 
by  heavy  gales.  As  they  advanced  towards  the 
coast  of  Darien  the  north-east  wind  increased  to  a 
violent  degree,  and  the  waves  became  very  rough  at 
night.  At  sunrise  they  perceived  part  of  the  archi- 
pelago of  St.  Bernard,  and  passing  the  southern  ex- 
tremity of  the  Placa  de  San  Bernardo,  saw  in  the 
distance  the  mountains  of  Tigua.  The  stormy 
weather  and  contrary  winds  induced  the  master  of 
the  vessel  to  seek  shelter  in  the  Rio  Sinu,  after  a 
passage  of  sixteen  days. 

Landing  again  on  the  continent  of  South  America, 
they  betook  themselves  to  the  village  of  Zapote, 
where  they  found  a  great  number  of  sailors,  all  men 
of  colour,  who  had  descended  the  Rio  Sinu  in  their 
barks,  carrying  maize,  bananas,  poultry,  and  other 
articles,  to  the  port  of  Carthagena.  The  boats  are 
flat-bottomed,  and  the  wind  having  blown  violently 
on  the  coast  for  ten  days,  they  were  unable  to  pro- 
ceed on  their  voyage.  These  people  fatigued  the 
travellers  with  idle  questions  about  their  books  and 
instruments,  and  tried  to  frighten  them  with  stories 
of  boas,  vipers,  and  jaguars.  Leaving  the  shores, 
which  are  covered  with  Rhizophora,  they  entered  a 
forest  remarkable  for  the  great  variety  of  palm- 
trees  which  it  presented.  One  of  them,  the  Mlais 
melanococca,  is  only  six  feet  four  inches  high,  but  its 
spathae  contain  more  than  200,000  flowers,  a  single 
specimen  furnishing  600,000  at  the  same  time.  The 
kernels  of  the  fruit  are  peeled  in  water,  and  the  layer 
of  oil  that  rises  from  them,  after  being  purified  by 


268  PALM- WINE. 

boiling,  yields  the  mantecade  corozo,  which  is  used 
for  lighting  churches  and  houses. 

After  an  hour's  walk  they  found  several  inhabit- 
ants collecting  palm- wine.  The  tree  which  affords 
this  liquid  is  the  Palma  dolce  or  Cocos  butyracea. 
The  trunk,  which  diminishes  but  little  towards  the 
summit,  is  first  cut  down,  when  an  excavation 
eighteen  inches  long,  eight  broad,  and  six  in  depth, 
is  made  below  the  place  at  which  the  leaves  and 
spathae  come  off.  After  three  days  the  cavity  is 
found  filled  with  a  yellowish-white  juice,  having  a 
sweet  and  vinous  flavour,  which  continues  to  flow 
eighteen  or  twenty  days.  The  last  that  comes  is  less 
sweet,  but  having  a  greater  quantity  of  alcohol,  it  is 
more  highly  esteemed.  On  their  way  back  to  the 
shore  they  met  with  Zambos  carrying  on  their  shoul- 
ders cylinders  of  palmetto  three  feet  in  length,  of 
which  an  excellent  food  is  prepared.  Night  sur- 
prised them ;  and,  having  broken  an  oar  in  return- 
ing on  board,  they  found  some  difficulty  in  reaching 
the  vessel. 

The  Rio  Sinu  is  of  the  highest  importance  for  pro- 
visioning Carthagena.  The  gold-washings  which 
were  formerly  of  great  value,  especially  between  its 
source  and  the  village  of  San  Geronimo,  have  almost 
entirely  ceased,  although  the  province  of  Antioquia 
still  furnishes,  in  its  auriferous  veins,  a  vast  field  for 
mining  speculations.  It  would,  however,  be  of  more 
importance  to  direct  attention  to  the  cultivation  of 
colonial  produce  in  these  districts,  especially  that 
of  cacao,  which  is  of  superior  quality.  The  real 
febrifuge  Cinchona  also  grows  at  the  source  of  the 
Rio  Sinu,  as  well  as  in  the  mountains  of  Abibe  and 
Maria  ;  and  the  proximity  of  the  port  of  Carthagena 
would  enhance  its  value  in  the  trade  with  Europe. 

On  the  27th  March  the  sloop  weighed  anchor  at 
sunrise.  The  sea  was  less  agitated,  although  the 
wind  blew  as  before.  To  the  north  was  seen  a  suc- 
cession of  small  conical  mountains,  rising  in  the 


DANGER  FROM  MAROON"  NEGROES,     269 

midst  of  savannas,  where  the  balsam  of  Toln,  form- 
erly so  celebrated  as  a  medicament,  is  still  gathered. 
On  leaving  the  Gulf  of  Morosquillo  they  found  the 
waves  swelling  so  high,  that  the  captain  was  glad  to 
seek  for  shelter,  and  lay-to  on  the  north  of  the  vil- 
lage of  Rincon  ;  but  discovering  that  they  were  upon 
a  coral  rock,  they  preferred  the  open  water,  and 
finally  anchored  near  the  isle  of  Arenas,  on  the  night 
of  the  28th.  Next  day  the  gale  blew  with  great 
violence  ;  but  they  again  proceeded,  hoping  to  be 
able  to  reach  the  Boca  Chica.  The  sea  was  so 
rough  as  to  break  over  the  deck,  and  while  they 
were  running  short  tacks,  a  false  manoeuvre  in  set- 
ting the  sails  exposed  them  for  some  minutes  to  im- 
minent danger.  It  was  Palm  Sunday ;  and  a  Zam- 
bo,  who  had  followed  them  to  the  Orinoco  and  re- 
mained in  their  service  until  they  returned  to  France, 
did  not  fail  to  remind  them,  that  on  the  same  day 
the  preceding  year  they  had  undergone  a  similar 
danger  near  the  mission  of  Uruana.  After  this  they 
took  refuge  in  a  creek  of  the  isle  of  Barn. 

As  there  was  to  be  an  eclipse  of  the  moon  that 
night,  and  next  day  an  occultation  of  a  Virginis, 
Humboldt  insisted  that  the  captain  should  allow  one 
of  the  sailors  to  accompany  him  by  land  to  the  Boca 
Chica,  the  distance  being  only  six  miles ;  but  the 
latter  refused,  on  account  of  the  savage  state  of  the 
country,  in  which  there  was  neither  path  nor  hab- 
itation ;  and  an  incident  which  occurred  justified  his 
prudence.  The  travellers  were  going  ashore  to 
gather  plants  by  moonlight,  when  there  issued  from 
the  thicket  a  young  negro  loaded  with  fetters,  and 
armed  with  a  cutlass.  He  urged  them  to  disembark 
on  a  beach  covered  with  large  Rhizophorte  among 
which  the  sea  did  not  break,  and  offered  to  conduct 
them  to  the  interior  of  the  island  of  Baru  if  they 
would  give  him  some  clothes ;  but  his  cunning  and 
savage  air,  his  repeated  inquiries  as  to  their  being 
Spaniards,  and  the  unintelligible  words  addressed  to 


270  CARTHAGENA. 

his  companions,  who  were  concealed  among  the 
trees,  excited  their  suspicions,  and  induced  them  to 
return  on  board.  These  blacks  were  probably  Ma- 
roon negroes,  who  had  escaped  from  prison.  The 
appearance  of  a  naked  man,  wandering  on  an  unin- 
habited shore,  and  unable  to  rid  himself  of  the  chains 
fastened  round  his  neck  and  arm,  left  a  painful  im- 
pression on  the  travellers ;  but  the  sailors  felt  so 
little  sympathy  with  these  miserable  creatures,  that 
they  wished  to  return  and  seize  the  fugitives,  in 
order  to  sell  them  at  Carthagena. 

Next  morning  they  doubled  the  Punta  Gigantes, 
and  made  sail  towards  the  Boca  Chica,  the  entrance 
to  the  port  of  Carthagena,  which  is  eight  or  ten 
miles  farther  up.  On  landing,  Humboldt  learned 
that  the  expedition  appointed  to  make  a  survey  of 
the  coast  under  the  command  of  M.  Fidalgo  had 
not  yet  put  to  sea,  and  this  circumstance  enabled 
him  to  ascertain  the  astronomical  position  of  several 
places  which  it  was  of  importance  to  determine. 

During  the  six  days  of  their  stay  at  Carthagena, 
they  made  excursions  in  the  neighbourhood,  more 
especially  in  the  direction  of  the  Boca  Grande,  and 
the  hill  of  Popa,  which  commands  the  town.  The 
port  or  bay  is  nearly  eleven  miles  and  a  half  long. 
The  small  island  of  Tierra  Bomba,  at  its  two  ex- 
tremities, which  approach,  the  one  to  a  neck  of  land 
from  the  continent,  the  other  to  a  cape  of  the  isle 
of  Bani,  forms  the  only  entrance  to  the  harbour. 
One  of  these,  named  Boca  Grande,  has  been  artifi- 
cially closed,  for  the  defence  of  the  town,  in  conse- 
quence of  an  attack  attended  with  partial  success 
made  by  Admiral  Vernon  in  1741.  The  extent  of 
the  work  was  2640  varas,  or  2446  yards,  and  as  the 
water  was  from  16  to  20  feet  deep,  a  wall  or  dike  of 
stone,  from  16  to  21  feet  high,  was  raised  on  piles. 
The  other  opening,  the  Boca  Chica,  is  from  36  to  38 
yards  broad,  but  is  daily  becoming  narrower,  while 
the  currents  acting  upon  the  Boca  Grande  have 


RELIGIOUS    MUMMERY.  271 

opened  a  breach  in  it,  which  they  are  continually 
extending. 

The  insalubrity  of  'Carthagena,  which  has  been 
exaggerated,  varies  with  the  state  of  the  great 
marshes  that  surround  it.  The  Cienega  de  Tesca, 
which  is  upwards  of  eighteen  miles  in  length,  com- 
municates with  the  ocean ;  and,  when  in  dry  years 
the  salt-water  does  not  cover  the  whole  plain,  the 
exhalations  that  rise  from  it  during  the  heat  of  the 
day  become  extremely  pernicious.  The  hilly  ground 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  town  is  of  limestone, 
containing  petrifactions,  and  is  covered  by  a  gloomy 
vegetation  of  cactus,  Jatropha  gossypifolia,  croton, 
and  mimosa.  While  the  travellers  were  searching 
for  plants,  their  guides  showed  them  a  thick  bush 
of  acacia  cornigera,  which  had  acquired  celebrity 
from  the  following  occurrence :  A  woman,  wearied 
of  the  well-founded  jealousy  of  her  husband,  bound 
him  at  night  with  the  assistance  of  her  paramour, 
and  threw  him  into  it.  The  thorns  of  this  species 
of  acacia  are  exceedingly  sharp,  and  of  great  length, 
and  the  shrub  is  infested  by  ants.  The  more  the 
unfortunate  man  struggled,  the  more  severely  was 
•he  lacerated  by  the  prickles,  and  when  his  cries  at 
length  attracted  some  persons  who  were  passing,  he 
was  found  covered  with  blood,  and  cruelly  tormented 
by  the  ants. 

At  Carthagena  the  travellers  met  with  several 
persons  whose  society  was  not  less  agreeable  than 
instructive ;  and  in  the  house  of  an  officer  of  artil- 
lery, Don  Domingo  Esquiaqui,  found  a  very  curious 
collection  of  paintings,  models  of  machinery,  and 
minerals.  They  had  also  an  opportunity  of  witness- 
ing the  pageant  of  the  Pascua.  Nothing,  says  Hum- 
boldt,  could  rival  the  oddness  of  the  dresses  of  the 
principal  personages  in  these  processions.  Beggars, 
carrying  a  crown  of  thorns  on  their  heads,  asked 
alms,  with  crucifixes  in  their  hands,  and  habited  in 
black  robes.  Pilate  was  arrayed  in  a  garb  of  striped 


272  VILLAGE    OF    TTJRBACO. 

silk,  and  the  apostles,  seated  round  a  large  table 
covered  with  sweetmeats,  were  carried  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  Zambos.  At  sunset,  effigies  of  Jews  in 
French  vestments,  and  formed  of  straw  and  other 
combustibles,  were  burnt  in  the  principal  streets. 

Dreading  the  insalubrity  of  the  town,  the  travel- 
lers retired  on  the  6th  April  to  the  Indian  village 
of  Turbaco,  situated  in  a  beautiful  district,  at  the 
entrance  of  a  large  forest,  about  17i  miles  to  the 
south-west  of  the  Popa,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
summits  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Carthagena.  Here 
they  remained  until  they  made  the  necessary  pre- 
parations for  their  voyage  on  the  Rio  Magdalena, 
and  fo'r  the  long  journey  which  they  intended  to 
make  to  Bogota,  Popayan,  and  Quito.  The  village 
is  about  1151  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Snakes 
were  so  numerous  that  they  chased  the  rats  even  in 
the  houses,  and  pursued  the  bats  on  the  roofs. 
From  the  terrace  surrounding  their  habitation,  they 
had  a  view  of  the  colossal  mountains  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada  de  Santa  Marta,  part  of  which  was  covered 
with  perennial  snow.  The  intervening  space,  con- 
sisting of  hills  and  plains,  was  adorned  with  a  luxu- 
riant vegetation,  resembling  that  of  the  Orinoco. 
There  they  found  gigantic  trees,  not  previously 
known,  such  as  the  Rhinocarpus  excelsa,  with  spirally- 
curved  fruit,  the  Ocotea  turbacensis,  and  the  Cava- 
nillesia  platanifolia ;  the  large  five-winged  fruit  of 
which  is  suspended  from  the  tips  of  the  branches 
like  paper  lanterns.  They  botanized  every  day  in 
the  woods  from  five  in  the  morning  till  night,  though 
they  were  excessively  annoyed  by  mosquitoes,  zan- 
cudoes,  xegens,  and  other  tipulary  insects.  In  the 
midst  of  these  magnificent  forests  they  frequently 
saw  plantations  of  bananas  and  maize,  to  which  the 
Indians  are  fond  of  retiring  at  the  end  of  the  rainy 
season. 

The  persons  who  accompanied  the  travellers  on 
these  expeditions  often  spoke  of  a  marshy  ground 


VOLCANCITOS  OF  TURBACO.          275 

situated  in  the  midst  of  a  thicket  of  palms,  and 
which  they  designated  by  the  name  of  Los  Volcan- 
citos.  They  said  that,  according  to  a  tradition  pre- 
served in  the  village,  the  ground  had  formerly  been 
ignited,  but  that  a  monk  had  extinguished  it  by  fre- 
quent aspersions  of  holy  water,  and  converted  the 
fire-volcano  into  a  water-volcano.  Without  attach- 
ing much  credit  to  this  tradition,  the  philosophers 
desired  their  guides  to  lead  them  to  the  spot.  After 
traversing  a  space  of  about  5300  yards,  covered  with 
trunks  of  Cavanillesia,  Piragra  supurba,  and  Gyro- 
carpus,  and  in  which  there  appeared  here  and  there 
projections  of  a  limestone  rock  containing  petrified 
corals,  they  reached  an  open  place  of  about  908  feet 
square,  entirely  destitute  of  vegetation,  but  mar- 
gined with  tufts  of  Bromelia  karatas.  The  surface 
was  composed  of  layers  of  clay  of  a  dark-gray 
colour,  cracked  by  desiccation  into  pentagonal  and 
heptagonal  prisms.  The  volcancitos  consist  of  fif- 
teen or  twenty  small  truncated  cones  rising  in  the 
middle  of  this  area,  and  having  a  height  of  from  19 
to  25  feet.  The  most  elevated  were  on  the  southern 
side,  and  their  circumference  at  the  base  was  from 
78  to  85  yards.  On  climbing  to  the  top  of  these 
mud-volcanoes,  they  found  them  to  be  terminated 
by  an  aperture,  from  16  to  30  inches  in  diameter, 
filled  with  water,  through  which  air-bubbles  obtained 
a  passage ;  about  five  explosions  usually  taking 
place  in  two  minutes.  The  force  with  which  the 
air  rises  would  lead  to  the  supposition  of  its  being 
subjected  to  considerable  pressure,  and  a  rather  loud 
noise  was  heard  at  intervals,  preceding  the  disen- 
gagement of  it  fifteen  or  eighteen  seconds.  Each 
of  the  bubbles  contained  from  12  to  14£  cubic  in- 
ches of  elastic  fluid,  and  their  power  of  expansion 
was  often  so  great  that  the  water  was  projected  be- 
yond the  crater,  or  flowed  over  its  brim.  Some  of 
the  openings  by  which  air  escaped  were  situated  in 
the  plain  without  being  surrounded  by  any  promi- 


276       VOLCANCITOS  AND  VEGETATION. 

nence  of  the  ground.  It  was  observed  that  when  the 
apertures,  which  are  not  placed  at  the  summit  of 
the  cones,  and  are  enclosed  by  a  little  mud  wall 
from  10  to  15  inches  high,  are  nearly  contiguous,  the 
explosions  did  not  take  place  at  the  same  time.  It 
would  appear  that  each  crater  receives  the  gas  by 
distinct  canals,  or  that  these,  terminating  in  the 
same  reservoir  of  compressed  air,  oppose  greater 
or  less  impediments  to  the  passage  of  the  aeriform 
fluids.  The  cones  have  no  doubt  been  raised  by 
these  fluids,  and  the  dull  sound  that  precedes  the  dis- 
engagement of  them  indicates  that  the  ground  is 
hollow.  The  natives  asserted  that  there  had  been 
no  observable  change  in  the  form  and  number  of 
the  cones  for  twenty  years,  and  that  the  little  cavi- 
ties are  filled  with  water  even  in  the  driest  seasons. 
The  temperature  of  this  liquid  was  not  higher  than 
that  of  the  atmosphere ;  the  latter  having  been 
81-5°,  and  the  former  80'6°  or  81°,  at  the  time  of 
Humboldt's  visit.  A  stick  could  easily  be  pushed 
into  the  apertures  to  the  depth  of  six  or  seven 
feet,  and  the  dark-coloured  clay  or  mud  was  ex- 
ceedingly soft.  An  ignited  body  was  immediately 
extinguished  on  being  immersed  in  the  gas  collected 
from  the  bubbles,  which  was  found  to  be  pure  azote. 
The  stay  which  our  travellers  made  at  Turbaco 
was  uncommonly  agreeable,  and  added  greatly  to 
their  collection  of  plants.  "  Even  now,"  says  Hum- 
boldt,  writing  in  1831,  "after  so  long  a  lapse  of 
time,  and  after  returning  from  the  banks  of  the  Obi 
and  the  confines  of  Chinese  Zungaria,  these  bamboo 
thickets,  that  wild  luxuriance  of  vegetation,  those 
orchideae  covering  the  old  trunks  of  the  ocotea  and  In- 
dian fig,  that  majestic  view  of  the  snowy  mountains, 
that  light  mist  filling  the  bottom  of  the  valleys  at 
sunrise,  those  tufts  of  gigantic  trees  rising  like,  ver- 
dant islets  from  a  sea  of  vapours,  incessantly  pre- 
sent themselves  to  my  imagination.  At  Turbaco 
we  lived  a  simple  and  laborious  life.  We  were  young ; 


PREPARATIONS   FOR    DEPARTURE.  27*7 

possessed  a  similarity  of  taste  and  disposition; 
looked  forward  to  the  future  with  hope ;  were  on  the 
eve  of  a  journey  which  was  to  lead  us  to  the  high- 
est summits  of  the  Andes,  and  bring  us  to  volcanoes 
in  action  in  a  country  continually  agitated  by  earth- 
quakes ;  and  we  felt  ourselves  more  happy  than  at 
any  other  period  of  our  distant  expedition.  The 
years  which  have  since  passed,  not  all  exempt  from 
griefs  and  pains,  have  added  to  the  charms  of  these 
impressions ;  and  I  love  to  think  that,  in  the  midst 
of  his  exile  in  the  southern  hemisphere,  in  the  soli- 
tudes of  Paraguay,  my  unfortunate  friend  M.  Bon- 
pland,  sometimes  remembers  with  delight  o,ur  bo- 
tanical excursions  at  Turbaco,  the  little  spring  of 
Torecillo,  the  first  sight  of  a  gustavia  in  flower,  or 
of  the  cavanillesia  loaded  with  fruits  having  mem- 
branous and  transparent  edges." 

M.  Bonpland's  health  having  suffered  severely 
during  the  navigation  of  the  Orinoco  and  Casiquiare, 
they  resolved  to  provide  themselves  with  all  the 
conveniences  necessary  to  secure  their  comfort  dur- 
ing the  ascent  of  the  Rio  Magdalena.  They  were 
accompanied  on  this  voyage  by  an  old  French  phy- 
sician, M.  de  Rieux,  and  two  Spaniards.  Leaving 
Turbaco  after  a  stay  of  ten  days,  in  a  cool  and  very 
dark  njght,  they  passed  through  a  wood  of  bamboos 
Arising  from  40  to  50  feet.  At  daybreak  they  reached 
Arjona  on  the  borders  of  the  forest,  crossed  an  arm 
of  the  Rio  Magdalena  in  a  canoe,  and  arrived  at 
Mahates,  where  they  had  to  wait  nearly  all  day  for 
the  mules  which  were  to  convey  their  baggage  to 
the  place  of  embarkation.  It  was  excessively  hot, 
without  a  breath  of  wind,  and  to  add  to  their  vexa- 
tion, their  only  remaining  barometer  had  been  broken 
in  passing  the  canal ;  but  they  consoled  themselves 
by  examining  some  beautiful  species  of  parrots 
which  they  obtained  from  the  natives. 

On  the  20th  April,  at  three  in  the  morning,  the 
air  feeling  deliciously  cool,  although  the  thermome- 
Aa 


278  BARANCAS   NUEVAS, 

ter  was  at  71*6°,  they  were  on  their  journey  to  the 
village  of  Barancas  Nuevas,  amid  a  forest  of  lofty 
trees.  Half-way  between  Mahates  and  that  hamlet 
they  found  a  group  of  huts  elegantly  constructed  of 
bamboos,  and  inhabited  by  Zambos.  Humboldt  re- 
marks, that  the  intermixture  of  Indians  and  negroes 
is  very  common  in  those  countries,  and  that  the 
women  of  the  American  tribes  have  a  great  liking 
to  the  men  of  the  African  race.  To  the  east  of 
Mahates  the  limestone  formation,  containing  corals, 
ceases  to  appear ;  the  predominant  rocks  being  sili- 
ceous with  argillaceous  cement,  forming  alternating 
beds  of  small-grained  quartzose  and  slaty  sandstone, 
or  conglomerates  containing  angular  fragments  of 
lydian-stone,  clay-slate,  gneiss,  and  quartz,  and  vary- 
ing in  colour  from  yellowish-gray  to  brownish-red. 
Hitherto  the  narrative  of  the  important  journey 
performed  by  Humholdt  and  Bonpland,  through  those 
little  known  but  highly  interesting  regions  of  South 
America  which  were  visited  by  them,  has  been  given 
as  much  in  detail  as  is  consistent  with  the  nature  of 
a  work  like  the  present ;  but  here,  as  no  minute  ac- 
count of  their  farther  progress  has  yet  been  laid  be- 
fore the  public,  we  must  cease  to  follow  them  step 
by  step,  and  content  ourselves  with  a  brief  narra- 
tive of  their  proceedings. 


ASCENT    OF    THE   RIO    MAGDALENA.  279 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Brief  Account  of  the  Journey  from  Carthagena  to  Quito 
and  Mexico. 

Ascent  of  the  Rio  Magdalena— Santa  Fe  de  Bogota— Cataract  of  Tequen- 
dama— Natural  Bridges  of  Icononzo— Passage  of  Quindiu— Cargueros 
— Popayan — Quito — Cotopaxi  and  Chimborazo — Route  from  Quito  to 
Lima— Guayaquil— Mexico— Guanaxuato— Volcano  of  Jorullo— Pyra- 
mid of  Cholula. 

IT  has  been  already  stated  that  Humboldt,  pre- 
viously to  leaving  Paris,  had  promised  Baudin,  that 
should  his  projected  expedition  to  the  southern  hemi- 
sphere ever  take  place,  he  would  endeavour  to  join  it ; 
and  also  that  information  received  by  him  at  Cuba 
had  induced  him  to  relinquish  plans  subsequently 
formed,  and  re-embark  for  the  continent  of  South 
America,  with  the  view  of  proceeding  to  Guayaquil 
or  Lima,  where  he  expected  to  meet  the  navigators. 
Accordingly  he  went  to  Carthagena,  where  he  learned 
that  the  season  was  too  far  advanced  for  sailing  from 
Panama  to  Guayaquil.  Giving  up,  therefore,  his 
intentioli  of  crossing  the  isthmus  of  Panama,  he 
passed  some  days  in  the  forests  of  Turbaco,  and 
afterward  made  preparations  for  ascending  the  Rio 
Magdalena. 

This  river,  from  its  sources  near  the  equator,  flows 
almost  directly  north.  "  Nature,"  says  a  traveller 
who  sailed  up  it  in  1823,  "  seems  to  have  designedly 
dug  the  bed  of  the  Magdalena  in  the  midst  of  the 
cordilleras  of  Colombia,  to  form  a  canal  of  commu- 
nication between  the  mountains  and  the  sea ;  yet  it 
would  have  made  nothing  but  an  unnavigable  tor- 
rent, had  not  its  course  been  stopped  in  many  parts 
by  masses  of  rock  disposed  in  such  a  manner  as  to 


280       RIO  MAGDALENA SANTA  FE  DE  BOGOTA. 

break  its  violence.  Its  waters,  thus  arrested,  flow 
gently  into  the  plains  of  the  provinces  of  Santa 
Martha  and  Carthagena,  which  they  fertilize  and 
refresh  by  their  evaporation.  Three  very  distinct 
temperatures  reign  on  the  Magdalena.  The  sea- 
breezes  blow  from  its  mouth  as  far  as  Monpox; 
from  this  town  to  Morales  not  a  breath  of  air  tem- 
pers the  heat  of  the  atmosphere,  and  man  would 
become  a  victim  to  its  power,  but  for  the  abundant 
dews  which  fall  during  the  night ;  from  Morales  as 
far  as  the  sources  of  the  Magdalena,  the  south  wind 
moderates  the  heat  of  the  day,  and  forms  the  third 
temperature.  These  land-breezes  cause  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  Magdalena  to  be  rarely  fatal  to  Euro- 
peans."* But,  according  to  the  same  author,  multi- 
tudes of  animals  of  various  species  continually  harass 
the  traveller.  He  cannot  bathe  on  account  of  the 
caymans,  and  if  he  venture  on  shore  he  is  in  dan- 
ger of  being  bitten  by  serpents. 

The  voyage  up  this  river,  which  lasted  thirty-five 
days,  was  not  performed  without  hazard  and  incon- 
venience. Humboldt  sketched  a  chart  of  it,  while 
his  friend  was  busily  occupied  in  examining  the 
rich  and  beautiful  vegetation  of  its  banks.  Disem- 
barking at  Honda,  they  proceeded  on  mules  by  dan- 
gerous paths,  through  forests  of  oaks,  melastomae, 
and  cinchonae,  to  Santa  Fe  de  Bogota,  the  capital 
of  New-Grenada.  This  city  stands  in  a  beautiful 
valley  surrounded  by  lofty  mountains,  and  which 
would  appear  to  have  been  at  a  former  period  the  bed 
of  a  great  lake.  Here  the  travellers  spent  several 
months  in  exploring  the  mineralogical  and  botanical 
treasures  of  the  country,  the  magnificent  cataract 
of  Tequendama,  and  the  extensive  collections  of  the 
celebrated  Mutis. 

The  elevated  plain  on  which  this  metropolis  is 
built  is  8727  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and, 

*  Mollien's  Travels  in  Colombia. 


CATARACT   OF    TEQUENDAMA.  281 

is  consequently  higher  than  the  summit  of  St.  Ber- 
nard. The  river  of  Funza,  usually  called  Rio  de 
Bogota,  which  drains  the  valley,  has  forced  its  way 
through  the  mountains  to  the  south-west  of  Santa 
Fe,  and  near  the  farm  of  Tequendama  rushes  from 
the  plain  by  a  narrow  outlet  into  a  crevice,  which 
descends  towards  the  bed  of  the  Rio  Magdalena. 
Respecting  this  ravine,  Gonzalo  Ximenes  de  Que- 
sada,  the  conqueror  of  the  country,  found  the  fol- 
lowing tradition  disseminated  among  the  people  : — 
In  remote  times  the  inhabitants  of  Bogota  were  bar- 
barians, living  without  religion,  laws,  or  arts.  An  old 
man  on  a  certain  occasion  suddenly  appeared  among 
them,  of  a  race  unlike  that  of  the  natives,  and  hav- 
ing a  long  bushy  beard.  He  instructed  them  in  the 
arts  ;  but  he  brought  with  him  a  very  malignant, 
although  very  beautiful  woman,  who  thwarted  all 
his  benevolent  enterprises.  By  her  magical  power 
she  swelled  the  current  of  the  Funza,  and  inun- 
dated the  valley ;  so  that  most  of  the  inhabitants  per- 
ished, a  few  only  having  found  refuge  in  the  neigh- 
bouring mountains.  The  aged  visiter  then  drove 
his  consort  from  the  earth,  and  she  became  the  moon. 
He  next  broke  the  rocks  that  enclosed  the  valley  on 
the  Tequendama  side,  and  by  this  means  drained  off 
the  waters ;  then  he  introduced  the  worship  of  the 
sun,  appointed  two  chiefs,  and  finally  withdrew  to  a 
valley,  where  he  lived  in  the  exercise  of  the  most  au- 
stere penitence  during  2000  years. 

The  cataract  of  Tequendama  presents  an  assem- 
blage of  all  that  is  picturesque.  The  river  a  little 
above  it  is  144  feet  in  breadth,  but  at  the  crevice 
narrows  to  a  width  of  not  more  than  12  yards.  The 
height  of  the  fall,  which  forms  a  double  bound,  is 
574  feet,  and  the  column  of  vapour  that  rises  from 
it  is  visible  from  Santa  Fe  at  the  distance  of  17  miles. 
The  vegetation  at  the  foot  of  the  precipice  has  a 
totally  different  appearance  from  that  at  the  sum- 
mit ;  and  while  the  spectator  leaves  behind  him  a 
Aa2 


282  NATURAL    BRIDGES THE    ANDES. 

plain  in  which  the  cereal  plants  of  Europe  are  cul- 
tivated, and  sees  around  him  oaks,  elms,  and  other 
trees  resembling  those  of  the  temperate  regions  of 
the  northern  hemisphere,  he  looks  down  upon  a 
country  covered  with  palms,  bananas,  and  sugar- 
canes. 

Leaving  Santa  Fe,  in  September,  1801,  the  travel- 
lers passed  the  natural  bridges  of  Icononzo,  formed 
by  masses  of  rock  lying  across  a  ravine  of  immense 
profundity.  The  valleys  of  the  cordilleras  are  gen- 
erally crevices,  the  depth  of  which  is  often  so  great, 
that  were  Vesuvius  seated  in  them  its  summit  would 
not  exceed  that  of  the  nearest  mountains.  One  of 
these,  that,  namely,  of  Icononzo  or  Pandi,  is  pecu- 
liarly remarkable  for  the  singular  form  of  its  rocks, 
the  naked  tops  of  which  present  the  most  picturesque 
contrast  with  the  tufts  of  trees  and  shrubs  which 
cover  the  edges  of  the  gulf.  A  torrent,  named  the 
Summa  Paz,  forms  two  beautiful  cascades  where  it 
enters  the  chasm,  and  where  it  again  escapes  from 
it.  A  natural  arch,  47 h  feet  in  length  and  39  in 
breadth,  stretches  across  the  fissure  at  a  height  of  318 
feet  above  the  stream.  Sixty-four  feet  below  this 
bridge  is  a  second,  composed  of  three  enormous 
masses  of  rock,  which  have  fallen  so  as  to  support 
each  other.  In  the  middle  of  it  is  a  hole,  through 
which  the  bottom  of  the  cleft  is  seen.  The  torrent, 
viewed  from  this  place,  seemed  to  flow  through  a 
dark  cavern,  whence  arose  a  doleful  sound,  emitted 
by  the  nocturnal  birds  that  haunt  the  abyss,  thou- 
sands of  which  were  seen  flying  over  the  surface  of 
the  water,  supposed  by  Humboldt  from  their  appear- 
ance to  be  goatsuckers. 

In  the  kingdom  of  New-Grenada,  from  2°  30'  to 
5°  15'  of  north  latitude,  the  cordillera  of  the  Andes 
is  divided  into  three  parallel  chains.  The  eastern 
one  separates  the  valley  of  the  Rio  Magdalena  from 
the  plains  of  the  Rio  Met  a,  and  on  its  western  de- 
clivity are  the  natural  bridges  of  Icononzo  above 


PASSAGE    OF    THE    QUIND1U.  283 

mentioned.  The  central  chain,  which  parts  the 
waters  between  the  basin  of  the  Rio  Magdalena 
and  that  of  the  Rio  Cauca,  often  attains  the  limits 
of  perpetual  snow,  and  shoots  far  beyond  it  in  the 
colossal  summits  of  Guanacas,  Baragan,  and  Quin- 
diu.  The  western  ridge  cuts  off  the  valley  of  Cauca 
from  the  province  of  Choco  and  the  shores  of  the 
South  Sea.  In  passing  from  Santa  Fe  to  Popayan 
and  the  banks  of  the  river  now  mentioned,  the  trav- 
eller has  to  descend  the  eastern  chain,  either  by  the 
Mesa  and  Tocayma  or  the  bridges  of  Icononzo,  trav- 
erse the  valley  of  the  Rio  Magdalena,  and  cross  the 
central  chain,  as  Humboldt  did,  by  the  mountain  of 
Quindiu. 

This  mountain,  which  is  considered  as  the  most 
difficult  passage  in  the  cordilleras,  presents  a  thick 
uninhabited  forest,  which,  in  the  finest  season,  can- 
not be  passed  in  less  than  ten  or  twelve  days.  Trav- 
ellers usually  furnish  themselves  with  a  month's 
provision,  as  it  often  happens  that  the  melting  of 
the  snow,  and  the  sudden  floods  arising  from  it,  pre- 
vent them  from  descending.  The  highest  point  of 
the  road  is  11,409^  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
and  the  path,  which  is  very  narrow,  has  i.n  several 
places  the  appearance  of  a  gallery  dug  in  the  rock 
and  left  open  above.  The  oxen,  which  are  the  beasts 
of  burden  commonly  used  in  the  country,  can  scarcely 
force  their  way  through  these  passages,  some  of 
which  are  6562  feet  in  length.  The  rock  is  covered 
with  a  thick  layer  of  clay,  and  the  numerous  gullies 
formed  by  the  torrents  are  filled  with  mud. 

In  crossing  this  mountain  the  philosophers,  fol- 
lowed by  twelve  oxen  carrying  their  collections  and 
instruments,  were  deluged  with  rain.  Their  shoes 
were  torn  by  the  prickles  which  shoot  out  from  the 
roots  of  the  bamboos,  so  that,  unwilling  to  be  carried 
on  men's  backs,  they  were  obliged  to  walk  barefooted. 
The  usual  mode  of  travelling,  however,  is  in  a  chair 
tied  to  the  back  of  a  carguero  or  porter.  When  one 


284  CARGUEROS,    OR    MEN-CARRIERS. 

reflects  on  the  enormous  fatigue  to  which  these  bear- 
ers are  exposed,  he  is  at  a  loss  to  conceive  how  the 
employment  should  be  so  eagerly  embraced  by  all 
the  robust  young  men  who  live  at  the  foot  of  the 
Andes.  The  passage  of  Quindiu  is  not  the  only  part 
of  South  America  which  is  traversed  in  this  manner. 
The  whole  province  of  Antioquia  is  surrounded  by 
mountains  so  difficult  to  be  crossed,  that  those  who 
refuse  to  trust  themselves  to  the  skill  of  a  carguero, 
and  are  not  strong  enough  to  travel  on  foot,  must  re- 
linquish all  thoughts  of  leaving  the  country.  The 
number  of  persons  who  follow  this  laborious  occu- 
pation, at  Choco,  Hague,  and  Medellin,  is  so  great 
that  our  travellers  sometimes  met  a  file  of  fifty  or 
sixty.  Near  the  mines  of  Mexico  there  are  also 
individuals  who  have  no  other  employment  than  that 
of  carrying  men  on  their  backs. 

The  cargueros,  in  crossing  the  forest  of  Quindiu, 
take  with  them  bundles  of  the  large  oval  leaves  of  the 
vijao,  a  plant  of  the  banana  family,  the  peculiar  var- 
nish of  which  enables  them  to  resist  rain.  A  hun- 
dredweight of  these  leaves  is  sufficient  to  cover  a 
hut  large  enough  to  hold  six  or  eight  persons.  When 
they  come  to  a  convenient  spot  where  they  intend 
to  pass  the  night,  the  carriers  lop  a  few  branches  from 
the  trees,  with  which  they  construct  a  frame ;  it  is 
then  divided  into,  squares  by  the  stalks  of  some  climb- 
ing plant,  or  threads  of  agave,  on  which  are  hung 
the  vijao  leaves,  by  means  of  a  cut  made  in  their 
midrib.  In  one  of  these  tents,  which  are  cool,  com- 
modious, and  perfectly  dry,  our  travellers  passed 
several  days  in  the  valley  of  Boquia,  amid  violent 
and  incessant  rains. 

From  these  mountains,  where  the  truncated  cone 
of  Tolima,  covered  with  perennial  snow,  rises  amid 
forests  of  styrax,  arborescent  pasiflorae,  bamboos,  and 
waxpalms,  they  descended  into  the  valley  of  Cauca 
towards  the  west.  After  resting  some  time  at  Ca- 
thago  and  Buga,  they  coasted  the  province  of  Choco, 


RIO    VINAGRE.  285 

where  platina  is  found  among  rolled  fragments  of 
basalt,  greenstone,  and  fossil  wood. 

They  then  went  up  by  Caloto  and  the  mines  of 
Quilichao  to  Popayan,  which  is  situated  at  the  base 
of  the  snowy  mountains  of  Purace  and  Sotara.  This 
city,  the  capital  of  New-Grenada,  stands  in  the  beau- 
tiful valley  of  the  Rio  Cauca,  at  an  elevation  of  5906 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  enjoys  a  delicious  climate. 
On  the  ascent  from  Popayan  towards  the  summit  of 
the  volcano  of  Purace,  at  a  height  of  8694  feet,  is  a 
small  plain  inhabited  by  Indians,  and  cultivated  with 
the  greatest  care.  It  is  bounded  by  two  ravines,  on 
the  brink  of  which  is  placed  a  village  of  the  same 
name.  The  gardens,  which  are  enclosed  with  hedges 
of  euphorbium,  are  watered  by  the  springs  that  issue 
abundantly  from  the  porphyritic  rock ;  and  nothing 
can  be  more  agreeable  than  the  contrast  between  the 
beautiful  verdure  of  this  plain  and  the  chain  of  dark 
mountains  surrounding  the  volcano.  The  hamlet  of 
Purace,  which  the  travellers  visited  in  November, 
1801,  is  celebrated  for  the  fine  cataracts  of  the  Rio 
Vinagre,  the  waters  of  which  are  acid.  This  little 
river  is  warm  towards  its  source,  and  after  forming 
three  falls,  one  of  which  is  394  feet  in  height  and  is 
exceedingly  picturesque,  joins  the  Rio  Cauca,  which 
for  14  miles  below  the  junction  is  destitute  of  fish. 
The  crater  of  the  volcano  is  filled  with  boiling  water, 
which,  amid  frightful  noises,  emits  vapours  of  sul- 
phuretted hydrogen. 

The  travellers  then  crossed  the  precipitous  cordil- 
leras  of  Almaquer  to  Pasto,  avoiding  the  infected  and 
contagious  atmosphere  of  the  valley  of  Patia.  From 
the  latter  town,  which  is  situated  at  the  foot  of  a 
burning  volcano,  they  traversed  the  elevated  plat- 
form of  the  province  of  Los  Pastos,  celebrated  for  its 
great  fertility  ;  and  after  a  journey  of  four  months, 
performed  on  mules,  arrived  at  Quito  on  the  6th  Jan- 
uary, 1802. 

The  climate  of  this  province  is  remarkably  agree- 


286  QUITO. 

able,  and  almost  invariable.  During  the  months  of 
December,  January,  February,  and  March,  it  gene- 
rally rains  every  afternoon  from  half-past  one  to 
five ;  but  even  at  this  season  the  evenings  and  morn- 
ings are  most  beautiful.  The  temperature  is  so  mild 
that  vegetation  never  ceases.  "  From  the  terrace 
of  the  government  palace  there  is  one  of  the  most 
enchanting  prospects  that  human  eye  ever  wit- 
nessed, or  nature  ever  exhibited.  Looking  to  the 
south,  and  glancing  along  towards  the  north,  eleven 
mountains  covered  with  perpetual  snow  present 
themselves,  their  bases  apparently  resting  on  the 
verdant  hills  that  surround  the  city,  and  their  heads 
piercing  the  blue  arch  of  heaven,  while  the  clouds 
hover  midway  down  them,  or  seem  to  crouch  at 
their  feet.  Among  these  the  most  lofty  are  Cayam- 
beurcu,  Imbaburu,  Ilinisa,  Antisana,  Chimborazo, 
and  the  beautifully-magnificent  Cotopaxi,  crowned 
with  its  volcano."* 

Nearly  nine  months  were  devoted  to  researches 
of  various  kinds.  They  made  excursions  to  the 
snowy  mountains  of  Antisana,  Cotopaxi,  Tungura- 
gua,  and  Chimborazo,  the  latter  of  which  was  con- 
sidered as  the  highest  on  the  globe J  until  it  was 
found  to  be  exceeded  by  some  of  the  colossal  sum- 
mits of  the  Himmaleh,  and  even  by  several  in  Upper 
Peru.  In  all  these  journeys  they  were  accompanied 
by  a  young  man,  son  of  the  Marquis  of  Selva-alegre, 
who  subsequently  followed  them  to  Peru  and  Mexi- 
co, f  They  twice  ascended  to  the  volcanic  summit 
of  Pichincha,  where  they  made  experiments  on  the 
constitution  of  the  air — its  elasticity,  its  electrical, 

*  Stevenson's  Residence  in  South  America,  vol.  ii.  p.  324. 

t  This  accomplished  individual,  Don  Carlos  Montufar,  of  whom  our 
author  speaks  with  approbation,  having  connected  himself  with  the 
popular  party  in  the  struggles  of  which  the  Spanish  colonies  have  lately 
been  the  theatre,  was  seized  in  Quito,  in  1811,  by  Don  Toribio  Monies, 
sentenced  as  a  traitor,  and  shot  through  the  back  ;  after  which  his  heart 
was  taken  out  and  burnt. — See  Stevenson's  Residence  id  South  America* 
vol.  iii.  p.  44. 


287 

Magnetic,  and  hygroscopic  qualities, — and  the  tem- 
perature of  boiling  water. 

Cotopaxi  is  the  loftiest  of  those  volcanoes  of  the 
Andes  which  have  produced  eruptions  at  recent  pe- 
riods ;  its  absolute  height  being  18,878  feet.  It  is 
consequently  2625  feet  higher  than  Vesuvius  would 
be  were  it  placed  on  the  top  of  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe. 
The  scoriae  and  rocks  ejected  by  it,  and  scattered 
over  the  neighbouring  valleys,  would  form  a  vast 
mountain  of  themselves.  In  1738  its  flames  rose 
2953  feet  above  the  crater ;  and  in  1744  its  roarings 
were  heard  as  far  as  Honda,  on  the  Magdalena,  at 
a  distance  of  690  miles.  On  the  4th  April,  1768, 
the  quantity  of  ashes  thrown  out  was  so  great,  that 
in  the  towns  of  Hambato  and  Tacunga  the  inhabit- 
ants were  obliged  to  use  lanterns  in  the  streets. 
T^le  explosion  which  took  place  in  January,  1803, 
preceded  by  the  sudden  melting  of  the  snows 
which  covered  the  surface ;  and  our  travellers,  at 
the  port  of  Guayaquil,  179^  miles  distant,  heard  day 
and  night  the  noises  proceeding  from  it,  like  dis- 
charges of  a  battery. 

This  celebn>f  ed  mountain  is  situated  to  the  south- 
east of  Quito,  at  the  distance  of  41  miles,  in  the 
midst  of  the  Andes.  Its  form  is  the  most  beautiful 
and  regular  of  all  the  colossal  summits  of  that 
mighty  chain;  being  a  perfect  cone,  which  is  covered 
with  snow,  and  shines  with  dazzling  splendour  at 
sunset.  No  rocks  project  through  the  icy  covering, 
except  near  the  edge  of  the  crater,  which  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  small  circular  wall.  In  ascending  it 
is  extremely  difficult  to  reach  the  lower  boundary 
of  the  snows,  the  cone  being  surrounded  by  deep 
ravines  ;  and,  after  a  near  examination  of  the  sum- 
mit, Humboldt  thinks  he  may  assert  that  it  would 
be  altogether  impossible  to  reach  the  brink  of  the 
crater. 

It  was  mentioned  that,  in  the  kingdom  of  New- 
Grenada,  the  cordilleras  of  the  Andes  form  three 


288  CHIMBORAZO. 

chains,  in  the  great  longitudirtal  valleys  of  which 
flow  two  large  rivers.  To  the  south  of  Popayan, 
on  the  table-land  of  Los  Pastos,  these  three  chains 
unite  into  a  single  group,  which  stretches  far  be- 
yond the  equator.  This  group,  in  the  kingdom  of 
Quito,  presents  an  extraordinary  appearance  from 
the  river  of  Chota,  the  most  elevated  summits  being 
arranged  in  two  lines,  forming,  as  it  were,  a  double 
ridge  to  the  cordilleras.  These  summits  served  for 
signals  to  the  French  academicians  when  employed 
in  the  measurement  of  an  equinoctial  degree.  Bou- 
guer  considered  them  as  two  chains,  separated  by  a 
longitudinal  valley  ;  but  this  valley  Humboldt  views 
as  the  ridge  of  the  Andes  itself.  It  is  an  elevated 
plain,  from  8858  to  9515  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea;  and  the  volcanic  summits  of  Pichincha,  Ca- 
yambo,  Cotopaxi,  and  other  celebrated  peaks,  are, 
he  thinks,  so  many  protuberances  of  the  great  mass 
of  the  Andes.  In  consequence  of  the  elevation  of 
the  territory  of  Quito,  these  mountains  do  not  seem 
so  high  as  many  of  much  inferior  altitude  rising 
from  a  lower  basis. 

On  Chimborazo  the  line  marking  the  inferior 
limit  of  perpetual  snow  is  at  a  height  somewhat  ex- 
ceeding that  of  Mont  Blanc.  On  a  narrow  ledge, 
which  rises  amid  the  snows  on  the  southern  de- 
clivity, our  travellers  attempted  on  the  23d  June  to 
reach  the  summit.  The  point  where  they  stopped 
to  observe  the  inclination  of  the  magnetic  meridian 
was  more  elevated  than  any  yet  attained  by  man, 
being  3609  feet  higher  than  the  summit  of  Mont 
Blanc,  and  more  than  3714  feet  higher  than  La  Con- 
damine  and  Bouguer  reached  in  1745  on  the  Cora- 
zon.  The  ridge  to  which  they  climbed,  and  beyond 
which  they  were  prevented  from  proceeding  by  a 
deep  chasm  in  the  snow,  was  19,798  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea ;  but  the  summit  of  the  mountain 
was  still  1439  feet  higher.  The  blood  issued  from 
their  eyes,  lips,  and  gums.  The  form  of  Chimborazo 


UPPER  AMAZON.  289 

is  conical,  but  the  top  is  not  truncated,  like  that  of 
Cotopaxi,  being  rounded  or  semicircular  in  outline. 

While  at  Quito,  Humboldt  received  a  letter  from 
the  National  Institute  of  France,  by  which  he  was 
apprized  that  Captain  Baudin  had  set  out  for  New- 
Holland  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  He  was 
obliged  therefore  to  renounce  all  thoughts  of  joining 
the  expedition,  although  the  hope  of  being  able  to 
meet  it  had  induced  him  to  relinquish  his  plan  of 
proceeding  from  Cuba  to  Mexico  and  the  Philippine 
Islands,  and  had  led  him  upwards  of  3452  miles 
southward.  The  travellers,  however,  consoled 
themselves  with  the  thought  of  having  examined 
regions  Over  which  the  eye  of  science  had  never 
before  glanced;  and,  resolved  henceforth  to  trust 
solely  to  their  own  resources,  after  spending  some 
months  in  exploring  the  Andes,  they  set  out  in  the 
—direction  of  Lima. 

They  first  pointed  their  course  to  the  great  River 
Amazon,  visiting  the  ruins  of  Lactacunga,  Hambato, 
and  Riobamba,  in  a  country  the  face  of  which  was 
entirely  changed  by  the  frightful  earthquakes  of 
1797,  that  destroyed  nearly  40,000  of  the  inhabitants. 
They  then  with  great  difficulty  passed  to  Loxa, 
where  in  the  forests  of  Gonzanama  and  Malacates 
they  examined  the  trees  which  yield  the  Peruvian 
bark.  The  vast  extent  of  ground  which  they  trav- 
ersed in. the  course  of  their  expedition  afforded 
them  better  opportunities  than  any  botanist  had 
ever  enjoyed  of  c'omparing  the  different  species  of 
cinchona. 

Leaving  Loxa  they  entered  Peru  by  Ayavaca  and 
Gouncabamba,  traversing  the  ridge  of  the  Andes  to 
descend  to  the  River  Amazon.  In  two  days  they 
had  to  cross  thirty-live  times  the  Rio  de  Chayma. 
They  saw  the  magnificent  remains  of  the  causeway 
of  the  incas,  which  traversed  the  porphyritic  sum- 
mits from  Cusco  to  Assouay,  at  a  height  varying 
from  7670  to  11,510  feet.  At  the  village  of  Chamaya, 
Bb 


290  ARRIVAL    AT    LIMA. 

on  a  river  of  the  same  name,  they  took  ship  and  de- 
scended to  the  Amazon. 

La  Condamine,  on  his  return  from  Quito  to  Para, 
embarked  on  this  river  only  below  Quebrada  de 
Chuchunga  ;  and  Humboldt,  with  the  view  of  com- 
pleting the  map  made  by  the  French  astronomer, 
proceeded  as  far  as  the  cataracts  of  Rentama.  At 
Tomependa,  the  principal  place  of  the  province  of 
Jaen  de  Bracamorros,  he  constructed  a  map  of  the 
Upper  Amazon,  from  his  own  observations  as  well 
as  from  accounts  received  from  the  natives.  Bon- 
pland  employed  himself,  as  usual,  in  examining  the 
subjects  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  among  which  he 
discovered  several  new  species  of  cinchona. 

Returning  to  Peru,  our  travellers  crossed  the  cor- 
dillera  of  the  Andes  the  fifth  time.  In  seven  degrees 
of  south  latitude  they  determined  the  position  of  the 
magnetic  equator,  or  the  line  in  which  the  needle 
has  no  inclination.  They  also  examined  the  mines 
of  Hualgayoc,  where  large  masses  of  native  silver 
are  found  at  an  elevation  of  12,790  feet  above  the 
sea,  and  which,  together  with  those  of  Pasco  and 
Huantajayo,  are  the  richest  in  Peru.  From  Caxa- 
marca,  celebrated  for  its  hot-springs  and  the  ruins 
of  the  palace  of  Atahualpa,  they  went  down  to 
Truxillo.  In  this  neighbourhood  are  the  remains 
of  the  ancient  Peruvian  city  Mansiche,  adorned  by 
pyramids,  in  one  of  which  an  immense  quantity  of 
gold  was  discovered  in  the  eighteenth  century. 
Descending  the  western  slope  of  the  Andes,  they 
beheld  for  the  first  time  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  the 
long  narrow  valley  bounded  by  its  shores,  in  which 
rain  and  thunder  are  unknown.  From  Truxillo  they 
followed  the  arid  coast  of  the  South  Sea,  and  arrived 
at  Lima,  where  they  remained  several  months.  At 
the  port  of  Callao,  Humboldt  had  the  satisfaction 
of  observing  the  transit  of  Mercury,  although  the 
thick  fog  which  prevails  there  sometimes  obscures 
the  sun  for  many  days  in  succession. 


JOURNEY    TO    MEXICO.  291 

In  January,  1803,  the  travellers  embarked  for 
Guayaquil,  in  the  vicinity  of  which  they  found  a 
splendid  forest  of  palms,  plumeriae,  tabernae-montanae, 
and  scitaminae.  Here  also  they  heard  the  incessant 
noises  of  the  volcano  of  Cotopaxi,  which  had  expe- 
rienced a  tremendous  agitation  on  the  6th  January. 
From  Guayaquil  they  proceeded  by  sea  to  Acapulco 
in  New-Spain.  At  first,  Humboldt's  intention  was 
to  remain  only  a  few  months  in  Mexico,  and  return 
as  speedily  as  possible  to  Europe,  more  especially 
as  his  instruments,  and  in  particular  the  chronome- 
ters, were  getting  out  of  order,  while  he  found  it 
impossible  to  procure  others.  But  the  attractions 
of  so  beautiful  and  diversified  a  country,  the  great 
hospitality  of  its  inhabitants,  and  the  dread  of  the 
yellow  fever  of  Vera  Cruz,  which  usually  attacks 
Those  who  descend  from  the  mountains  between 
June  and  October,  induced  him  to  remain  until  the 
middle  of  winter. 

After  making  numerous  observations  and  experi- 
ments on  the  atmospherical  phenomena,  the  horary 
variations  of  the  barometer,  magnetism,  and  the 
natural  productions  of  the  country,  our  travellers 
set  out  in  the  direction  of  Mexico  ;  gradually  ascend- 
ing by  the  burning  valleys  of  Mescala  and  Papagayo, 
where  the  thermometer  rose  to  89*6°  in  the  shade, 
and  where  the  river  is  crossed  on  fruits  of  Crescentia 
pinnata,  attached  to  each  other  by  ropes  of  agave. 
Reaching  the  elevated  plains  of  Chilpantzuigo,  Te- 
huilotepec,  and  Tasco,  which  are  situated  at  a  height 
varying  from  3837  to  4476  feet  above  the  sea,  they 
entered  a  region  blessed  with  a  temperate  climate, 
and  producing  oaks,  cypresses,  pines,  tree-ferns,  and 
the  cultivated  cereal  plants  of  Europe.  After  visit- 
ing the  silver-mines  of  Tasco,  the  oldest  and  formerly 
the  richest  of  Mexico,  they  went  up  by  Cuernaraca 
and  Guachilaco  to  the  capital.  Here  they  spent 
some  time  in  the  agreeable  occupation  of  examining 
numerous  curiosities,  antiquities,  and  institutions,  in 


292  EXCURSIONS    TO    THE    PROVINCES. 

making  astronomical  observations,  in  studying  the 
natural  productions  of  the  surrounding  country,  and 
in  enjoying  the  society  of  enlightened  individuals. 
The  longitude  of  Mexico,  which  had  been  misplaced 
two  degrees  on  the  latest  maps,  was  accurately 
determined  by  a  long  series  of  observations. 

Our  travellers  next  visited  the  celebrated  mines 
of  Moran  and  Real  del  Monte,  and  examined  the 
obsidians  of  Oyamel,  which  form  layers  in  pearlstone 
and  porphyry,  and  were  employed  by  the  ancient 
Mexicans  for  the  manufacture  of  knives.  The  cas- 
cade of  Regla,  a  representation  of  which  forms  the 
vignette  to  the  present  volume,  is  situated  in  the 
neighbourhood.  The  regularity  of  the  basaltic  col- 
umns is  as  remarkable  as  that  of  the  deposites  of 
Staffa.  Most  of  them  are  perpendicular;  though 
some  are  horizontal,  and  others  have  various  degrees 
of  inclination.  They  rest  upon  a  bed  of  clay,  be- 
neath which  basalt  again  occurs.  Returning  from 
this  excursion  in  July,  1803,  they  made  another  to 
the  northern  part  of  the  kingdom,  in  the  course  of 
which  they  inspected  the  aperture  made  in  the 
mountain  of  Suicog  for  the  purpose  of  draining  the 
valley  of  Mexico.  They  next  passed  by  Queretaro, 
Salamanca,  and  the  fertile  plains  of  Yrapuato,  on  the 
way  to  Guanaxuato,  a  large  city  placed  in  a  narrow 
defile,  and  celebrated  for  its  mines. 

There  they  remained  two  months,  making  re- 
searches into  the  geology  and  botany  of  the  neigh- 
bouring country.  From  thence  they  proceeded  by 
the  valley  of  San  Jago  to  Valladolid,  the  capital  of 
the  ancient  kingdom  of  Mechoacan;  and,  notwith- 
standing a  continuance  of  heavy  autumnal  rains, 
descended  by  Patzquaro,  which  is  situated  on  the 
edge  of  an  extensive  lake  towards  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  to  the  plains  of  Jorullo.  Here  they 
entered  the  great  crater,  making  their  way  over 
crevices  exhaling  ignited  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  and 


VOLCANO    OF    JORULLO.  293 

experiencing  much  danger  from  the  brittleness  of 
the  lava. 

The  formation  of  this  volcano  is  one  of  the  most 
extraordinary  phenomena  which  have  been  observed 
on  our  globe.  The  plain  of  Malpais,  covered  with 
small  cones  from  six  to  ten  feet  in  height,  is  part  of 
an  elevated  table-land  bounded  by  hills  of  basalt, 
trachyte,  and  volcanic  tufa.  From  the  period  of 
the  discovery  of  America  to  the  middle  of  the  last 
century,  this  district  had  undergone  no _ change  of 
surface,  and  the  seat  of  the  crater  was  then  covered 
with  a  plantation  of  indigo  and  sugar-cane ;  when, 
in  June,  1759,  hollow  sounds  were  heard,  and  a  suc- 
cession, of  earthquakes  continued  for  two  months, 
to  the  great  consternation  of  the  inhabitants.  From 
the  beginning  of  September  every  thing  seemed  to 
announce  the  re-establishment  of  tranquillity ;  but 
in  the  night  of  the  28th  the  frightful  subterranean 
noises  again  commenced.  The  Indians  fled  to  the 
neighbouring  mountains.  A  tract  not  less  than  from 
three  to  four  square  miles  in  extent  rose  up  in  the 
shape  of  a  dome  ;  and  those  who  witnessed  the  phe- 
nomenon asserted,  that  flames  were  seen  issuing 
from  a  space  of  more  than  six  square  miles,  while 
fragments  of  burning  rocks  were  projected  to  an 
immense  height,  and  the  surface  of  the  ground  un- 
dulated like  an  agitated  sea.  Two  brooks  which 
watered  the  plantations  precipitated  themselves  into 
the  burning  chasms.  Thousands  of  the  small  cones 
described  above  suddenly  appeared,  and  in  the  midst 
of  these  eminences,  called  hornitos  or  ovens,  six  great 
masses,  having  an  elevation  of  from  1312  to  1640 
feet  above  the  original  level  of  the  plain,  sprang  up 
from  a  gulf  running  from  N.N.E.  to  S.S.W.  The 
most  elevated  of  these  mounds  is  the  great  volcano 
of  Jorullo,  which  is  continually  burning.  The  erup- 
tions of  this  central  volcano  continued  till  February, 
1760,  when  they  became  less  frequent.  The  Indians, 
who  had  abandoned  all  the  villages  within  thirty 
Bb2 


294  VOLCANO    OF    JORULLO. 

miles  of  it,  returned  once  more  to  their  cottages, 
and  advanced  towards  the  mountains  of  Aguasarco 
and  Santa  Ines,  to  contemplate  the  streams  of  fire 
that  issued  from  the  numberless  apertures.  The 
roofs  of  the  houses  of  Queretaro,  more  than  166 
miles  distant,  were  covered  with  volcanic  dust.  Mr. 
Lyell  (Principles  of  Geology,  vol.  i.  p.  379)  states, 
on  the  authority  of  Captain  Vetch,  that  another 
eruption  happened  in  1819,  accompanied  by  an  earth- 
quake, during  which  ashes  fell  at  the  city  of  Gua- 
naxuato,  140  miles  distant  from  Jorullo,  in  such 
quantities  as  to  lie  six  inches  deep  in  the  streets. 

When  Humboldt  visited  this  place,  the  natives 
assured  him  that  the  heat  of  the  hornitos  had  for- 
merly been  much  greater.  The  thermometer  rose 
to  203°  when  placed  in  the  fissures  exhaling  aqueous 
vapour.  Each  of  the  cones  emitted  a  thick  smoke, 
and  in  many  of  them  a  subterranean  noise  was 
heard,  which  seemed  to  indicate  the  proximity  of  a 
fluid  in  ebullition.  Two  streams  were  at  that  period 
seen  bursting  through  the  argillaceous  vaults,  and 
were  found  by  the  traveller  to  have  a  temperature 
of  126'9°.  The  Indians  give  them  the  names  of  the 
two  rivers  which  had  been  ingulfed,  because  in  seve- 
ral parts  of  the  Malpais  great  masses  of  water  are 
heard  flowing  in  a  direction  from  east  to  west.  Our 
author  considers  all  the  district  to  be  hollow ;  but 
Scrope  and  Lyell  find  it  more  suitable  to  their  views 
of  volcanic  agency  to  represent  the  conical  form 
of  the  ground  as  resulting  from  the  flow  of  lava 
over  the  original  surface  of  the  plain. 

The  Indians  of  this  province  are  represented  as 
being  the  most  industrious  of  New-Spain.  They 
have  a  remarkable  talent  for  cutting  out  images  in 
wood,  and  dressing  them  in  clothes  made  of  the  pith 
of  an  aquatic  plant,  which  being  very  porous  imbibes 
the  most  vivid  colours.  Two  figures  of  this  kind, 
which  Humboldt  brought  home  for  the  Queen  of 
Prussia,  are  here  represented.  They  exhibit  the 


INDIANS    OF  MECHOACAN. 


295 


characteristic  traits  of  the  American  race,  together 
with  a  strange  mixture  of  the  ancient  costume  with 
that  which  was  introduced  by  the  Spaniards. 


Costumes  of  the  Indians  of  Mechoacan. 

•  From  Valladolid,  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Mechoa- 
can, the  travellers  returned  to  Mexico  by  the  ele- 
vated plain  of  Tolucca,  after  examining  the  volcanic 
mountains  in  the  vicinity.  They  also  visited  the 
celebrated  cheiranthostaemon  of  Cervantes,  a  tree 
of  which  it  was  at  one  time  supposed  there  did  not 
exist  more  than  a  single  specimen. 

At  that  city  they  remained  several  months,  for  the 
purpose  of  arranging  their  botanical  and  geological 
collections,  calculating  the  barometrical  and  trigo- 


296    OCCUPATIONS  OF  THE  TRAVELLERS. 

nometrical  measurements  which  they  had  made,  and 
sketching  the  plates  of  the  Geological  Atlas  which 
Humboldt  proposed  to  publish.  They  also  assisted  in 
placing  a  colossal  equestrian  statue  of  the  king,  which 
had  been  cast  by  a  native  artist.  In  January,  1804, 
they  left  Mexico  with  the  intention  of  examining  the 
eastern  declivity  of  the  cordillera  of  New-Spain. 
-They  also  measured  the  great  pyramid  of  Cholula,  an 
extraordinary  monument  of  the  Toltecks,  from  the 
summit  of  which  there  is  a  splendid  view  of  the  snowy 
mountains  and  beautiful  plains  of  Tlascala.  It  is 
built  of  bricks,  which  seemed  to  have  been  dried  in 
the  sun,  alternating  with  layers  of  clay.  They  then 
descended  to  Xalapa,  a  city  placed  at  an  elevation 
of  4138  feet  above  the  sea,  in  a  delightful  climate. 
The  dangerous  road  which  leads  from  it  to  Perote, 
through  almost  impenetrable  forests,  was  thrice  ba- 
rometrically levelled  by  Humboldt.  Near  the  latter 
place  is  a  mountain  of  basaltic  porphyry,  remark- 
able for  the  singular  form  of  a  small  rock  placed  on 
its  summit,  and  which  is  named  the  Coffer  of  Perote. 
This  elevation  commands  a  very  extensive  prospect 
over  the  plain  of  Puebla  and  the  eastern  slope  of 
the  cordilleras  of  Mexico,  which  is  covered  with 
dense  forests.  From  it  they  also  saw  the  harbour 
of  Vera  Cruz,  the  castle  of  St.  Juan  of  Ulloa,  and 
the  seacoast. 

Before  following  our  travellers  across  the  Atlantic, 
it  may  be  useful  to  present  a  sketch  of  the  valuable 
observations  recorded  in  Humboldt's  Political  Essay 
on  the  Kingdom  of  New- Spain,  and  which  are  in 
part  the  result  of  his  researches  in  that  interesting 
country. 


INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS.  297 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Description  of  New- Spain  or  Mexico. 

General  Description  of  New-Spain  or  Mexico— Cordilleras— Climates 
— Mines — Rivers— Lakes— Soil — Volcanoes — Harbours — Population- 
Provinces — Valley  of  Mexico,  and  Description  of  the  Capital— Inunda- 
tions, and  Works  undertaken  for  the  Purpose  of  preventing  them. 

PREVIOUS  to  Humboldt's  visit  to  New-Spain,  the 
information  possessed  in  Europe  respecting  that  in- 
teresting and  important  country  was  exceedingly 
meager  and  incorrect.  The  ignorance  of  the  Eu- 
ropean conquerors,  the  indolence  of  their  successors, 
the  narrow  policy  of  the  government,  and  the  want 
of 'scientific  enterprise  among  the  Creoles  and  Span- 
iards, left  it  for  centuries  a  region  of  dim  obscurity, 
into  which  the  eye  of  research  was  unable  to  pene- 
trate. So  inaccurate  were  the  maps,  that  even  the 
latitude  and  longitude  of  the  capital  remained  un- 
fixed, and  the  inhabitants  were  thrown  into  conster- 
nation by  the  occurrence  of  a  total  eclipse  of  the  sun 
on  the  21st  February,  1803  ;  the  almanacs,  calculating 
from  a  false  indication  of  the  meridian,  having  an- 
nounced it  as  scarcely  visible.  The  determination 
of  the  geographical  position  of  many  of  the  more  re- 
markable places,  that  of  the  altitude  of  the  volcanic 
summits  and  other  eminences,  together  with  the  vast 
mass  of  intelligence  contained  in  the  Political  Essay 
on  New-Spain,  served  to  dispel  in  some  measure  the 
darkness  ;  and  since  the  period  of  Humboldt's  visit 
numerous  travellers  have  contributed  so  materially 
to  our  acquaintance  with  Mexico,  that  it  no  longer 
remains  among  the  least  known  of  those  remote 
countries  of  the  globe  over  which  the  power  of  Eu- 
rope has  extended. 


298  SPANISH    SETTLEMENTS. 

Although  the  independence  of  the  American  states 
has  now  been  confirmed,  and  their  political  relations 
entirely  changed  since  the  time  our  author  was  there, 
the  aspect  of  nature  continues  the  same  in  those  ex- 
tensive regions ;  and  as  we  have  less  to  do  with 
their  history  and  national  circumstances  than  with 
the  discoveries  of  the  learned  traveller,  we  shall 
follow,  as  heretofore,  his  descriptions  of  the  coun- 
tries examined  by  him  in  the  relations  in  which  they 
then  stood. 

The  Spanish  settlements  in  the  New  Continent 
formerly  occupied  that  immense  territory  comprised 
between  41°  43'  of  south  latitude  and  37°  48'  of  north 
latitude,  equalling  the  whole  length  of  Africa,  and 
exceeding  the  vast  regions  possessed  by  the  Russian 
empire  or  Great  Britain  in  Asia.  They  are  divided 
into  nine  great  governments,  of  which  five,  viz.  the 
viceroyalties  of  Peru  and  New  Grenada,  the  capi- 
tanias-generales  of  Guatimala,  Porto  Rico,  and  Ca- 
raccas,  are  entirely  intertropical ;  while  the  other 
four,  viz.  the  viceroyalties  of  Mexico  and  Buenos 
Ayres,  and  the  capitanias-generales  of  Chili  and  Ha- 
vana, including  the  Floridas,  are  chiefly  situated  in 
the  temperate  zones.  Mexico  was  the  most  im- 
portant as  well  as  the  most  civilized  of  the  whole,  and 
was  long  considered  as  such  by  the  court  of  Madrid. 

The  name  of  New-Spain  was  at  first  given  in  1518 
to  the  province  of  Yucatan,  where  the  companions 
of  Grijalva  were  astonished  at  the  civilization  of  the 
inhabitants.  Cortez  employed  it  to  denote  the  whole 
empire  of  Montezuma,  though  it  was  subsequently- 
used  in  various  senses.  Humboldt  designates  by  it 
the  vast  country  which  has  for  its  northern  and  south- 
ern limits  the  parallels  of  38°  and  16°.  The  length 
of  this  region  from  S.S.E.  to  N.N.W.  is  nearly  1678 
miles ;  its  greatest  breadth  994  miles.  The  isthmus 
of  Tehuantepec,  to  the  south-east  of  the  port  of  Vera 
Cruz,  is  the  narrowest  part ;  the  distance  from  the  At- 
lantic Ocean  to  the  South  Sea  being  there  only  155 


GEOGRAPHICAL    RELATIONS    OF    MEXICO.          299 

miles.  The  question  of  opening  a  communication 
by  a  canal  between  the  two  oceans  at  this  point,  the 
isthmus  of  Panama,  or  several  others  which  he 
mentions,  is  fully  discussed  by  the  author.  He  dis- 
credits the  idea  that  the  level  of  the  South  Sea  is 
higher  than  that  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  imagines 
that  were  a  rupture  of  the  intervening  barrier  ef- 
fected, the  current  would  establish  itself  in  the  di- 
rection opposite  to  that  usually  apprehended. 

When  a  general  view  is  taken  of  the  whole  sur- 
face of  Mexico,  it  is  seen  that  one-half  is  situated 
within  the  tropic,  while  the  rest  belongs  to  the  tem- 
perate zone.  This  latter  portion  contains  775,019 
square  miles.  The  physical  climate  of  a  country 
does  not  altogether  depend  upon  its  distance  from 
the  pole,  but  also  upon  its  elevation,  its  proximity 
to  the  ocean,  and  other  circumstances ;  so  that  of 
the  645,850  square  miles  in  the  torrid  zone,  more 
than  three-fifths  have  a  cold,  or  at  least  temperate 
atmosphere.  The  wrhole  interior  of  Mexico,  in  fact, 
constitutes  an  immense  table-land,  having  an  eleva- 
tion which  varies  from  6562  to  8202  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea. 

The  chain  of  mountains  which  forms  this  vast 
plain  is  continuous  with  the  Andes  of  South  Amer- 
ica. In  the  southern  hemisphere  the  cordillera  is 
everywhere  broken  up  by  fissures  or  valleys  of  small 
breadth ;  but  in  Mexico  it  is  the  ridge  itself  that-con- 
stitutes  the  platform.  In  Peru  the  most  elevated  sum- 
mits form  the  crest  of  the  Andes,  while  in  the  other 
the  prominences  are  irregularly  scattered  over  the 
plain,  and  have  no  relation  of  parallelism  to  the  Di- 
rection of  the  cordillera.  In  Peru  and  New-Grenada 
there  are  transverse  valleys,  having  sometimes  4590 
feet  of  perpendicular  depth,  which  entirely  prevent 
the  use  of  carriages ;  while  in  New-Spain  vehicles 
are  used  along  an  extent  of  more  than  1726  miles. 
The  general  height  of  the  table-land  of  Mexico  is 
equal  to  that  of  Mount  Cenis,  St.  Gothard,  or  the 


300        PLATFORMS  OF  THE  ANDES. 

Great  St.  Bernard  of  the  Swiss  Alps ;  and  to  deter- 
mine this  circumstance  Humboldt  executed  five 
laborious  barometrical  surveys,  which  enabled  him 
to  construct  a  series  of  vertical  sections  of  the 
country. 

In  South  America  the  cordillera  of  the  Andes  pre- 
sents plains  completely  level  at  immense  altitudes, 
such  as  that  on  which  the  city  of  Santa  Fe  de  Bogota 
stands,  that  of  CaxamarcainPeru,  and  those  of  An- 
tisana,  which  exceed  in  height  the  summit  of  the 
Peak  of  Teneriffe.  But  all  these  levels  are  of  small 
extent,  and  being  separated  by  deep  valleys  are  of 
difficult  access.  In  Mexico,  on  the  other  hand,  vast 
tracts  of  champaign  country  are  so  approximated  to 
each  other  as  to  form  but  a  single  plain  occupying 
the  elongated  ridge  of  the  cordillera,  and  running 
from  the  18th  to  the  40th  degree  of  north  latitude. 
The  descent  towards  the  coasts  is  by  a  graduated 
series  of  terraces,  which  oppose  great  difficulties  to 
the  communication  between  the  maritime  districts 
and  the  interior,  presenting  at  the  same  time  an  ex- 
traordinary diversity  of  vegetation. 

The  plains  along  the  coasts  are  the  only  parts  that 
possess  a  climate  adapted  to  the  productions  of  the 
West  Indies, — the  mean  temperature  of  those  situ- 
ated within  the  tropics,  and  whose  elevation  does 
not  exceed  984  feet,  being  from  77°  to  78'8°,  which 
is  several  degrees  greater  than  the  mean  tempera- 
ture of  Naples.  These  fertile  regions,  which  pro- 
duce sugar,  indigo,  cotton,  and  bananas,  are  named 
Tierras  calientes.  Europeans  remaining  in  them  for 
any  considerable  time,  particularly  in  the  towns,  are 
liable  to  the  yellow  fever  or  black  vomiting.  On 
the  eastern  shores  the  great  heats  are  occasionally 
tempered  by  strata  of  refrigerated  air  brought  from 
the  north  by  the  impetuous  winds  that  blow  from 
October  to  March,  which  frequently  cool  the  atmo- 
sphere to  such  a  degree,  that  at  Havana  the  ther- 
mometer descends  to  32°,  and  at  Vera  Cruz  to  60*8°. 


DIVERSITY    OF    CLIMATE.  301 

On  the  declivities  of  the  cordil'lera,  at  the  eleva- 
tion of  3937  or  4921  feet,  there  prevails  a  mild  cli- 
mate, never  varying  more  than  four  or  five  degrees. 
To  this  region,  of  which  the  mean  annual  tempera- 
ture is  from  68°  to  69*8°,  the  natives  give  the  name 
otTierras  templadas.  Unfortunately  these  tracts  are 
frequently  covered  with  thick  fogs,  as  they  occupy 
the  height  to  which  the  clouds  usually  ascend  above 
the  level  of  the  sea. 

The  plains  which  are  elevated  more  than  7218  feet 
above  that  level,  and  of  which  the  mean  temperature 
is  under  62*6°,  are  named  Tierras  frias.  The  whole 
table-land  of  Mexico  belongs  to  this  description, 
which  the  natives  consider  cold,  although  the  ordi- 
nary warmth  is  equal  to  that  of  Rome.  There  are 
plains  of  still  greater  elevation,  on  which,  although 
they  have  a  mean  temperature  of  from  51 '8°  to  55*4°, 
equal  to  that  of  France  and  Lombardy,  the  vegetation 
is  less  vigorous,  and  European  plants  do  not  thrive  so 
well  as  in  their  native  soil.  The  winters  there  are 
not  extremely  severe,  but  in  summer  the  sun  has 
not  sufficient  power  over  the  rarified  air  to  bring 
fruits  to  perfect  maturity. 

From  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  New- Spain,  as 
here  sketched,  the  influence  of  geographical  position 
upon  the  vegetation  is  much  less  than  that  of  the 
height  of  the  ground  above  the  sea.  In  the  nine- 
teenth and  .twentieth  degrees  of  latitude,  sugar,  cot- 
ton, cacao,  and  indigo  are  produced  abundantly  only 
at  an  elevation  of  from  1968  to  2625  feet.  Wheat 
thrives  on  the  declivities  of  the  mountains,  along  a 
zone  which  commences  at  4593  feet,  and  ends  at 
9843.  The  banana  (Musa  paradisiaca),  on  the  fruit 
of  which  the  inhabitants  of  the  tropics  chiefly  sub- 
sist, is  seldom  productive  above  5085  feet ;  oaks 
grow  only  between  2625  and  9843  feet ;  and  pines 
never  descend  lower  than  6096,  nor  rise  above  13,124 
feet. 

Cc 


302  MINES — RIVERS — LAKES. 

The  internal  provinces  of  the  temperate  zone  en- 
joy a  climate  essentially  different  from  that  of  the 
same  parallels  in  the  Old  Continent.  So  remarkable 
an  inequality  prevails  indeed  between  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  seasons,  that  while  the  winters  resemble 
those  of  Germany,  the  summers  are  like  those  of 
Sicily.  A  similar  difference  exists  between  the 
other  parts  of  America  and  the  corresponding  lati- 
tudes in  Europe ;  but  it  is  less  perceptible  on  the 
western  than  on  the  eastern  coasts. 

New-Spain  possesses  a  peculiar  advantage  in  the 
circumstances  under  which  the  precious  metals 
have  been  deposited.  In  Peru,  the  most  important 
silver-mines,  those  of  Potosi,  Pasco,  and  Chota,  are 
placed  at  an  immense  elevation ;  so  that,  in  work- 
ing them,  men,  provisions,  and  cattle  must  be 
brought  from  a  distance ;  but  in  Mexico  the  richest 
of  these,  those,  namely,  of  Guanaxuato,  Zacatecas, 
Tasco,  and  Real  del  Monte,  are  at  moderate  heights, 
and  surrounded  by  cultivated  fields,  towns,  and 
villages. 

There  are  few  rivers  of  consequence  in  the  coun- 
try, the  Rio  Bravo  del  Norte  and  the  Rio  Colorado 
being  the  only  ones  of  any  magnitude.  The  former 
has  a  course  of  1767  miles,  the  latter  of  863 ;  but 
these  streams  flow  in  the  least  cultivated  parts  of 
the  country,  and  can  have  little  influence  in  a  com- 
mercial point  of  view  until  colonization  shall  extend 
to  their  shores.  In  the  whole  equinoctial  part  of 
New-Spain  there  are  only  small  rivulets,  of  which 
very  few  can  ever  become  interesting  to  the  mer- 
chant. 

The  numerous  lakes,  the  greater  part  of  which 
appear  to  be  annually  decreasing  in  size,  are  the 
remains  of  immense  basins  of  water  that  formerly 
existed  on  the  elevated  plains.  Of  these  may  be 
mentioned  the  lake  of  Chapala,  nearly  2067  square 
miles  in  extent;  those  of  the  valley  of  Mexico, 


SNOW-LINE- — TEMPERATURE.  303 

which  comprehend  a  fourth  part  of  its  surface  ;  that 
of  Patzcuaro  in  Valladolid ;  and,  finally,  the  lakes 
of  Mexitlan  and  Parras  in  New-Biscay. 

The  interior  of  New-Spain,  and  especially  a  great 
part  of  the  elevated  table-land  of  Anahuac,  is  arid 
and  destitute  of  vegetation ;  which  arises  from  the 
rapid  evaporation  in  high  plains,  and  the  circum- 
stance that  few  of  the  mountains  enter  the  region 
of  perpetual  snow,  which  under  the  equator  com- 
mences at  the  Height  of  15,748  feet,  and  in  the  45th 
degree  of  latitude  at  that  of  8366  feet.  In  Mexico, 
in  the  19th  and  20th  degrees,  perpetual  frost  com- 
mences, according  to  Humboldt's  measurements,  at 
15,092  feet  of  elevation ;  so  that  of  the  six  colossal 
summits  which  are  placed  in  the  same  line  in  the 
19th  parallel  of  latitude,  only  four,  namely,  the 
Peak  of  Orizaba,  Popocatepetl,  Iztaccihuatl,  and 
Nevado  de  Tolucca,  are  clothed  with  perennial 
snow  ;  while  the  Cofre  de  Perote  and  the  Volcan  de 
Colmia  remain  uncovered  during  the  greater  part  of 
the  year.  None  of  the  other  mountains  rise  into  so 
lofty  a  region. 

In  general,  in  the  equinoctial  part  of  New-Spain, 
the  soil,  climate,  and  vegetation  present  a  similar 
character  to  those  of  the  temperate  zone.  Although 
the  table-lands  are  singularly  cold  in  winter,  the 
temperature  is  much  higher  in  summer  than  in  the 
Andes  of  Peru,  because  the  great  mass  of  the  cor- 
dillera  of  Mexico,  and  the  vast  extent  of  its  plains, 
produce  a  reverberation  of  the  sun's  rays  never  ob- 
served in  elevated  countries  of  greater  inequality. 

To  the  north  of  20°  the  rains,  which  fall  only  in 
June,  July,  August,  and  September,  very  seldom  ex- 
tend to  the  interior.  The  mountains,  being  composed 
of  porous  amygdaloid  and  fissured  porphyries,  pre- 
sent few  springs  ;  the  filtrated  water  losing  itself  in 
the  crevices  opened  by  ancient  volcanic  eruptions, 
and  issuing  at  the  bottom  of  the  cordilleras. 

The  aridity  of  the  central  plain,  on  which  there 


304  VOLCANOES COASTS. 

is  a  great  deficiency  of  wood,  is  prejudicial  to  the 
working  of  the  mines  ;  and  this  natural  evil  has 
been  augmented  since  the  arrival  of  Europeans,  who 
have  not  only  destroyed  the  trees  without  planting 
others,  but  have  drained  a  large  extent  of  ground, 
and  thus  increased  the  saline  efflorescences  which 
cover  the  surface  and  are  hostile  to  cultivation. 
This  dryness,  however,  is  confined  to  the  more  ele- 
vated plains  ;  and  the  declivities  of  the  cordillera 
being  exposed  to  humid  winds  and  fogs,  their  vege- 
tation is  uncommonly  vigorous. 

Mexico  is  less  disturbed  by  earthquakes  than 
Quito,  Guatimala,  and  Cumana,  although  these  de- 
structive commotions  are  by  no  means  rare  on  the 
western  coasts,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
capital,  where,  however,  they  are  never  so  violent 
as  in  other  parts  of  America.  There  are  only  five 
active  volcanoes  in  all  New-Spain ;  Orizaba,  Popo- 
catepetl, Tustla,  Jorullo,  and  Colima. 

The  physical  situation  of  that  kingdom  confers 
inestimable  advantages  upon  it  in  a  commercial 
point  of  view.  Under  careful  cultivation  it  is  capa- 
ble of  producing  all  that  commerce  brings  together 
from  every  part  of  the  globe ;  sugar,  cochineal,  cacao, 
cotton,  coffee,  wheat,  hemp,  flax,  silk,  oil,  and  wine. 
It  furnishes  every  metal,  not  even  excepting  mer- 
cury, and  is  supplied  with  the  finest  timber ;  but  the 
coasts  oppose  obstacles  which  it  will  be  difficult  to 
overcome.  The  western  shores  are  indeed  furnished 
with  excellent  harbours ;  but  the  eastern  are  almost 
entirely  destitute  of  them,  the  mouths  of  the  rivers 
there  being  choked  up  with  sands,  which  are  con- 
stantly adding  to  the  land.  Vera  Cruz,  the  principal 
port  on  this  side,  is  merely  an  open  road.  Both 
coasts,  too,  are  rendered  inaccessible  for  several 
months  by  severe  tempests,  which  prevent  all  navi- 
gation. The  north  winds,  los  nortes,  prevail  in  the 
Mexican  Gulf  from  the  autumnal  to  the  vernal  equi- 
nox. They  are  very  violent  in  March,  though  usually 


TEMPESTS  OF  THE  GULF  OF  MEXICO.  305 

more  moderate  in  September  and  October.  The 
navigators  who  have  long  frequented  the  port  of 
Vera  Cruz  are  familiar  with  the  symptoms  of  the 
coraing  storm,  which  is  preceded  by  a  great  change 
in  the  barometer,  and  a  sudden  interruption  in  the 
regular  occurrence  of  its  horary  oscillations.  At 
first  a  gentle  land-wind  blows  from  W.N.W.,  and  is 
succeeded  by  a  breeze  rising  from  the  N.E.,  then 
from  the  S.  ^4_  suffocating  heat  succeeds,  and  the 
water  dissolved  in  the  atmosphere  is  precipitated  on 
the  walls  and  pavements.  The  summits  of  Orizaba, 
of  the  Cofre  de  Perote,  and  the  mountains  of  Villa 
Rica  are  cloudless,  while  their  bases  are  concealed 
by  vapours.  In  this  state  of  the  air  the  tempest 
commences,  usually  with  great  impetuosity,  and 
generally  continues  three  or  four  days.  Occasion- 
ally, even  in  May,  June,  July,  and  August,  violent 
hurricanes  are  experienced  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
The  navigation  of  the  western  coasts  is  very  dan- 
gerous in  July  and  August,  when  sudden  gales  burst 
from  the  S.W. ;  and  even  in  the  fine  season,  from 
October  to  May,  furious  winds  sometimes  blow  from 
the  N.E.  and  N.N.E.  In  short,  all  the  coasts  of 
New-Spain  are  at  certain  periods  dangerous  to 
navigators. 

It  is  probable  that  Mexico  was  formerly  better  in- 
habited than  it  is  at  present ;  but  its  population  was 
concentrated  in  a  very  small  space  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  capital.  At  the  present  day  it  is  more 
generally  distributed  than  it  was  before  the  conquest, 
and  the  number  of  Indians  has  increased  during  the 
last  century.  -  According  to  an  imperfect  census 
made  in  1794,  the  return  was  estimated  at  5,200,000. 
The  proportion  of  births  to  deaths,  during  the  time 
between  that  period  and  Humboldt's  visit,  was  found, 
from  data  furnished  by  the  clergy,  to  be  170 :  100  ; 
while  that  of  births  to  the  total  amount  he  considers 
as  1  in  17,  and  of  the  deaths  as  1  in  30.  The  an- 
nual number  at  present  born  lie  estimates  at  nearly 
Cc3 


306  POPULATION    OF    NEW-SPAIN. 

350,000,  and  that  of  deaths  at  200,000.  It  would 
thus  appear  that,  if  this  rate  of  increase  were  not 
checked  from  time  to  time  by  some  extraordinary 
cause,  the  population  of  New-Spain  would  double 
every  nineteen  years.  In  the  United  States  gene- 
rally it  has  doubled,  since  1784,  every  twenty  or 
twenty-three  years ;  and  in  some  of  them  it  doubles 
in  thirteen  or  fourteen.  In  France,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  number  of  inhabitants  would  double  in  214 
years,  were  no  wars  or  contagious  diseases  to  inter- 
fere. Such  is  the  difference  between  countries  that 
have  long  been  densely  peopled  and  those  whose 
civilization  is  of  recent  date.  Humboldt,  from  vari- 
ous considerations,  assumes  the  population  of  Mex- 
ico in  1803  at  5,800,000:  and  thinks  it  extremely 
probable  that  in  1808  it  exceeded  6,500,000. 

The  causes  which  retard  the  increase  of  numbers 
in  Mexico  are  the  small-pox,  a  disease  called  by 
the  Indians  matlazahuatl,  and  famine.  The  first  of 
these,  which  was  introduced  in  1520,  seems  to  exert 
its  power  at  periods  of  17  or  18  years.  In  1763, 
and  in  1779,  it  committed  dreadful  ravages,  having 
carried  off  during  the  latter,  in  the  capital  alone, 
more  than  9000  persons.  In  1797  it  was  less  de- 
structive, chiefly  in  consequence  of  the  zeal  with 
which  inoculation  was  propagated ;  between  50,000 
and  60,000  individuals  having  undergone  the  opera- 
tion. The  vaccine  method  was  introduced  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  Mexico  and  South  America  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  present  century.  Humboldt 
mentions  a  curious  circumstance,  tending  to  show 
that  the  discovery  of  our  celebrated  countryman 
Dr.  Jenner  had  long  been  known  to  the  country 
people  among  the  Andes  of  Peru.  A  negro  slave, 
who  had  been  inoculated  for  the  small-pox,  showed 
no  symptom  of  the  disease,  and  when  the  practi- 
tioners were  about  to  repeat  the  operation,  told  them 
he  was  certain  that  he  should  never  take  it ;  for, 
when  milking  cows  in  the  mountains,  he  had  been 


EPIDEMIC   DISEASES.  307 

affected  with  cutaneous  eruptions,  caused,  as  the 
herdsmen  said,  by  the  contact  of  pustules  sometimes 
found  on  the  udders. 

The  frightful  distemper  called  matlazahuatl,  which 
is  peculiar  to  the  Indian  race,  seldom  appears  more 
than  once  in  a  century.  It  bears  some  resemblance 
to  the  yellow  fever  or  black  vomiting,  which,  how- 
ever, very  seldom  attacks  the  natives.  The  extent 
of  its  ravages  is  not  known  with  any  degree  of  cer- 
tainty, and  it  has  not  yet  been  submitted  to  medical 
investigation.  Torquedama  asserts  that  in  1545  it 
destroyed  800,000,  and  2,000,000  in  1576  ;  but  these 
estimates  are  considered  by  Humboldt  as  greatly 
exaggerated. 

A  third  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  population  in 
New-Spain  is  famine.  The  American  Indians,  nat- 
urally indolent,  contented  with  the  smallest  quan- 
tity of  food  on  which  life  can  be  supported,  and  liv- 
ing in  a  fine  climate,  merely  cultivate  as  much  maize, 
potatoes,  or  wheat  as  is  necessary  for  their  own 
maintenance,  or  at  most  for  the  additional  consump- 
tion of  the  adjacent  towns  and  mines.  The  in- 
habitants of  Mexico  have  increased  in  a  greater  ra- 
tio than  the  means  of  subsistence,  and  accordingly, 
whenever  the  crops  fall  short  of  the  demand,  or  are 
damaged  by  drought  or  other  local  causes,  famine 
ensues.  With  want  of  food  comes  disease  ;  and 
triese  visitations,  which  are  of  not  unfrequent  occur- 
rence, are  very  destructive. 

The  working  of  the  mines  has  also  contributed  to 
the  depopulation  of  America.  At  the  period  of  the 
conquest  many  Indians  perished  from  excessive  toil, 
and,  as  they  were  forced  from  their  homes  to  dis- 
tant places,  they  usually  died  without  leaving  pro- 
geny. In  New-Spain,  however,  such  labour  has 
been  free  for  many  years.  The  number  employed 
in  it  does  not  exceed  28,000  or  30,000,  and  the  mor- 
tality among  them  is  not  much  greater  than  in  other 
classes. 


308  CHARACTER    OF    THE    INDIANS. 

The  Mexican  population  consists  of  the  same  ele- 
ments as  that  of  the  other  Spanish  colonies.  Seven 
races  are  distinguished: — 1.  Gachupines,  or  persons 
born  in  Europe. ;  2.  Spanish  Creoles,  or  whites  of 
European  extraction  born  in  America ;  3.  Mestizoes, 
descendants  of  whites  and  Indians ;  4.  Mulattoes, 
descendants  of  whites  and  negroes ;  5.  Zambos,  de- 
scendants of  negroes  and  Indians ;  6.  Indians,  of  the 
indigenous  race  ;  and,  7.  African  negroes. 

The  Indians  appear  to  constitute  at  least  two-fifths 
of  the  whole.  Humboldt  seems  to  favour  the  opin- 
ion, that  the  Aztecs,  who  inhabited  New-Spain  at 
the  period  of  the  conquest,  may  have  been  of 
Asiatic  origin.  As  the  migrations  of  the  American 
tribes  have  always  taken  place  from  north  to  south, 
the  native  population  of  this  country  must  necessa- 
rily consist  of  very  heterogeneous  elements.  The 
number  of  languages  exceeds  20 ;  and  of  these  four- 
teen have  tolerably  complete  grammars  and  diction- 
aries. Most  of  these  tongues,  so  far  from  being 
only  dialects  of  the  same,  as  some  authors  have  as- 
serted, present  as  little  affinity  to  each  other  as  the 
Greek  and  the  German.  The  variety  spoken  by  the 
indigenous  inhabitants  of  America  forms  a  very 
striking  contrast  with  the  small  number  used  in  Asia 
and  Europe.  The  Aztec  or  Mexican  is  the  most 
widely  distributed. 

The  Indians  of  New-Spain  bear  a  general  resem- 
blance to  those  of  Florida,  Canada,  Peru,  and  Brazil. 
They  have  the  same  dingy  copper  colour,  straight 
and  smooth  hair,  deficient  beard,  squat  body,  elon- 
gated and  oblique  eyes,  prominent  cheekbones,  and 
thick  lips.  But  although  the  American  tribes  have 
thus  a  certain  uniformity  of  character,  they  differ 
as  much  from  each  other  as  the  numerous  varieties 
of  the  European  or  Caucasian  race.  Those  who 
live  in  this  province  have  a  more  swarthy  complex- 
ion than  the  inhabitants  of  the  warmest  parts  of  the 
south.  They  have  also  a  much  more  abundant 


DISTRICTS    OR   INTENDANCIES.  309 

beard  than  the  other  tribes,  and  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  capital  they  even  wear  small  mousta- 
ches. Pursuing  a  quiet  and  indolent  life,  and  ac- 
customed to  uniform  nourishment  of  a  vegetable 
nature,  they  would  no  doubt  attain  a  very  great  lon- 
gevity were  they  not  extremely  addicted  to  drunk- 
enness. They  exist  in  a  state  of  great  moral  de- 
gradation, being  entirely  destitute  of  religion,  al- 
though they  have  exchanged  their  original  rites  for 
those  of  Catholicism.  The  men  are  grave,  melan- 
cholic, and  taciturn ;  forming  a  striking  contrast  to 
the  negroes,  who  for  this  reason  are  preferred  by 
the  Indian  women.  Long  habituated  to  slavery, 
they  patiently  suffer  the  privations  to  which  they 
are  frequently  subjected;  opposing  to  them  only  a 
degree  of  cunning,  veiled  under  the  appearance  of 
apathy  and  stupidity.  Although  destitute  of  imagi- 
nation, they  are  remarkable  for  the  facility  with 
which  they  acquire  a  knowledge  of  languages ;  and, 
notwithstanding  their  usual  taciturnity,  they  become 
loquacious  and  eloquent  when  excited  by  important 
occurrences.  It  is  unnecessary  to  speak  of  the  ne- 
groes, of  whom  there  are  very  few  in  Mexico,  their 
character  being  the  same  as  in  other  countries  where 
slavery  is  permitted. 

No  city  of  the  New  Continent,  not  even  except- 
ing those  of  the  United  States,  possesses  more  im- 
portant scientific  establishments  than  Mexico.  Of 
these  Humboldt  mentions  particularly  the  School  of 
Mines,  the  Botanic  Garden,  which  has  however 
fallen  into  a  state  of  negle,ct,  and  the  Academy  of 
Fine  Arts.  The  influence  of  this  institution  is  per- 
ceptible in  the  symmetry  of  the  buildings  which 
adorn  the  capital. 

New-Spain  is  divided  into  15  districts,  which  he 
arranges  as  follows : — 

I.  In  the  TEMPERATE  ZONE — 82,000  square  leagues; 
677,000  inhabitants,  or  eight  to  the  square  league — 


310  INTENDANCY    OF    MEXICO. 

(1,059,193  square  miles ;  inhabitants  T8o  to  the  square 
mile). 

A.  Northern  Region,  in  the  interior. 

1.  Province  of  New-Mexico,  along  the  Rio  del  Norte,  to  the  north 

of  the  parallel  of  31°. 

2.  Intendancy  of  New-Biscay,  to  the  south-west  of  the  Rio  del 

Norte,  on  the  central  table-land. 

B.  North-western  Region,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

3.  Province  of  New-California,  on  the  north-west  coast  of  North 

America. 

4.  Province  of  Old  California,  the  southern  extremity  of  which  en- 

ters the  torrid  zone. 

5.  Intendancy  of  La  Sonora,  which  also  passes  the  tropic. 

C.  North-eastern  Region,  adjoining  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

6.  Intendancy  of  San  Luis  Potosi. 

II.  In  the  TORRID  ZONE — 36,500  square  leagues : 
5,160,000  inhabitants,  or  141  to  the  square  league — 
(471,470  square  miles;  inhabitants  11  to  the  square 
mile). 

D.  Central  Region. 

7.  Intendancy  of  Zacatecas. 

8.  Intendancy  of  Guadalaxara. 

9.  Intendancy  of  Guanaxuato. 

10.  Intendancy  of  Valladolid. 

11.  Intendancy  of  Mexico. 

12.  Iirtendancy  of  Puebla. 

13.  Intendancy  of  Vera  Cruz. 

E.  South-western  Region. 

14.  Intendancy  of  Oaxaca. 

15.  Intendancy  of  Meiida. 

Without  attempting  to  present  an  analysis  of  our 
author's  statistical  account  of  these  different  prov- 
inces, we  shall  select  from  his  descriptions  those 
parts  which  may  prove  most  interesting  to  the  gen- 
eral reader. 

1.  The  intendancy  of  Mexico  is  entirely  within 
the  torrid  zone.  More  than  two-thirds  of  it  are 
mountainous,  and  contain  extensive  plains  elevated 
from  2131  to  2451  feet  above  the  sea.  Only  one 
summit,  the  Nevado  de  Tolucca,  15,158  feet  in 
height,  enters  the  region  of  perpetual  snow. 

The  valley  of  Mexico,  or  Tenochtitlan,  which  is 


CITY    OF    MEXICO.  311 

of  an  oval  form,  is  situated  in  the  centre  of  the  cor- 
dillera  of  Anahuac,  and  is  63  miles  in  length  by  43 
in  breadth.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  ridge  of  moun- 
tains, more  elevated  on  the  southern  side,  where  it 
is  confined  by  the  great  volcanoes  of  La  Puebla, 
Popocatepetl,  and  Iztaccihuatl.  The  capital  stands 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  one  of  the  great  lakes 
which  exist  in  this  beautiful  valley,  although  for- 
merly it  was  placed  on  an  island  in  that  sheet  of 
water,  and  communicated  with  the  shore  by  three 
great  dikes.  This  city  is  represented  by  Humboldt 
as  one  of  the  finest  ever  built  by  Europeans  in  either 
hemisphere,  and  all  travellers  agree  in  admiring  its 
beauty.  "  From  an  eminence,"  says  Captain  Lyon 
in  his  interesting  Journal,  "  we  came  suddenly  in 
sight  of  the  great  valley  of  Mexico,  with  its  beauti- 
ful city  appearing  in  the  centre,  surrounded  by  di- 
verging shady  paseos,  bright  fields,  and  picturesque 
haciendas.  The  great  lake  of  Tezcuco  lay  imme- 
diately beyond  it,  shaded  by  a  low  floating  cloud  of 
exhalations  from  its  surface,  which  hid  from  our 
view  the  bases  of  the  volcanoes  of  Popocatepetl  and 
Iztaccihuati ;  while  their  snowy  summits,  brightly 
glowing  beneath  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun,  which 
but  partially  illumined  the  plains,  gave  a  delightfully 
novel  appearance  to  the'  whole  scene  before  me. 
I  was,  however,  at  this  distance,  disappointed  as  to 
the  size  of  Mexico  ;  but  its  lively  whiteness  and 
freedom  from  smoke,  the  magnitude  of  the  churches, 
and  the  extreme  regularity  of  its  structure,  gave  it 
an  appearance  which  can  never  be  seen  in  a  Euro- 
pean city,  and  declare  it  unique,  perhaps  unequalled 
in  its  kind." 

The  ground  it  occupies  is  everywhere  perfectly 
level,  the  streets  are  regular  and  broad,  the  architec- 
ture generally  of  a  very  pure  style,  and  many  of  the 
buildings  are  remarkably  beautiful.  Two  kinds  of 
hewn  stone,  a  porous  amygdaloid  and  a  glassy  fel- 
spar porphyry,  are  used.  The  houses  are  not  loaded 


312  ANCIENT   MONUMENTS. 

with  decorations,  nor  disfigured  by  wooden  balconies 
and  galleries.  The  roofs  are  terraced;  and  the 
streets,  which  are  clean  and  well  lighted,  have  very 
broad  pavements.  The  water  of  the  lake  is  brack- 
ish, as  is  that  of  all  the  wells ;  but  the  city  is  sup- 
plied by  two  fine  aqueducts.  The  objects  which 
generally  attract  the  notice  of  travellers  are,  1.  The 
cathedral,  which  has  two  towers  ornamented  with 
pilasters  and  statues  ;  2.  The  treasury ;  3.  The  con- 
vents, of  which  the  most  distinguished  is  that  of 
St.  Francis ;  4.  The  hospital ;  5.  The  acordada,  a  fine 
building,  of  which  the  prisons  are  spacious  and  well 
aired ;  6.  The  school  of  mines ;  7.  The  botanical 
garden ;  8.  The  university  ;  9.  The  academy  of  fine 
arts;  10.  The  equestrian  statue  of  Charles  IV.,  in 
the  great  square. 

Few  remains  of  ancient  monuments  are  to  be 
found  in  the  town  or  its  vicinity.  Of  those  that 
exist,  the  chief  are  the  ruins  of  the  Aztec  dikes 
and  aqueducts ;  the  sacrificial  stone,  adorned  with  a 
relievo  representing  the  triumph  of  a  Mexican  king ; 
the  great  calendar  in  the  plaza  mayor ;  the  colossal 
statue  of  the  goddess  Teoyaomiqui,  in  one  of  the 
galleries  of  the  university ;  the  Aztec  manuscripts 
or  hieroglyphical  pictures  preserved  in  the  house  of 
the  viceroys ;  and  the  foundations  of  the  palace  be- 
longing to  the  sovereigns  of  Alcolhuacan  at  Tezcuco. 

The  only  remarkable  antiquities  in  the  valley  of 
Mexico  are  the  remains  of  the  two  pyramids  of  San 
Juan  de  Teotihuacan,  to  the  north-east  of  the  lake 
of  Tezcuco,  consecrated  to  the  sun  and  moon.  One 
of  these  in  its  present  state  is  a  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  in  height,  the  other  a  hundred  and  forty-four. 
The  interior  is  clay  mixed  with  small  stones,  while 
the  facings  are  of  porous  amygdaloid,  and  they  are 
surrounded  by  a  group  of  smaller  elevation,  dis- 
posed in  a  regular  series.  Another  ancient  object 
worthy  of  notice  is  the  military  intrenchment  of 
Xochicalco,  to  the  S.S.W.  of  the  town  of  Cueraa- 


CONSUMPTION    OF    MEXICO.  313 

vaco,  near  Teteama.  It  consists  of  a  hill  387  feet 
high,  surrounded  by  ditches  or  trenches,  and  divided 
into  five  terraces  covered  with  masonry ;  the  whole 
forming  .a  truncated  pyramid,  the  four  faces  of 
which  correspond  to  the  four  cardinal  points.  The 
porphyritic  stones  are  adorned  with  hieroglyphical 
figures,  among  which  are  crocodiles,  and  men  sit- 
ting cross-legged  in  the  Asiatic  manner.  Other 
relics  and  places  connected  with  the  history  of  the 
conquest  are  shown  to  the  stranger ;  but  of  these  it 
is  unnecessary  to  speak. 

Our  author  estimates  the  population  of  Mexico  as 
follows  : — 

Inhabitants. 

White  Europeans 2,500 

White  Creoles , 65,000 

Copper-coloured  natives 33,000 

Mestizoes,  mixture  of  whites  and  Indians 26,500 

Mulut  toes 10,000 

137,000      . 

The  annual  number  of  births  for  a  mean  term  of 
100  years  is  5930,  and  that  of  deaths  5050  ;  while  in 
New-Spain,  in  general,  the  relation'of  the  births  to 
the  population  is  as  1  to  17,  and  that  of  the  deaths 
as  1  to  30,  so  that  the  mortality  in  the  capital  ap- 
pears much  greater.  The  great  conflux  of  sick  per- 
sons to  the  hospitals,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
celibacy  of  the  numerous  clergy,  the  progress  of 
luxury,  and  other  causes,  induce  this  disproportion. 

According  to  researches  made  by  the  Count  de 
Revillagigedo,  the  consumption  of  Mexico  in  1791 
was  as  follows : — 

I.   ANIMAL  FOOD. 


Oxen 16,300 

Calves 450 

Sheep 278,923 

Hogs 50,676 


Kids  and  Rabbits 24,000 


Fowls 1,255,340 

Ducks 125,000 

Turkeys 205,000 

Pigeons 65,30! 


Dd 


Partridges 140,000 


314  LAKES. 

II.   GRAIN. 

Maize,  or  Indian  corn— cargas  of  3    fanegas,  117,224=545,219  I.  3. 

bushels. 

Barley— cargas,  40,219=187,062  I.  S.  bushels. 
Wheat  flour— cargas  of  12  arrobas,  130,000=353,229  cwt. 

III.    LIQUIDS. 

Pulque,  the  fermented  juice  of  agave— cargas,  294,790=800,987  cwts. 
Wine  and  vinegar— barrels  of  4£  arrobas,  4,507=71,756  I.  S.  galls. 
Brandy— barrels,  12,000=191,052  I.  S.  galls. 
Spanish  oil— arrobas  of  25  pounds,  5,585=15,530  I.  S.  galls. 

The  market  is  abundantly  supplied  with  vegetables 
of  numerous  kinds,  which  are  brought  in  every  morn- 
ing by  the  Indians  in  boats.  Most  of  these  are  cul- 
tivated on  the  chinampas  or  gardens,  some  of  which 
float  upon  the  neighbouring  sheet  of  water,  while 
others  are  fixed  in  the  marshy  grounds.* 

The  surface  of  the  four  principal  lakes  in  the  val- 
ley of  Mexico  occupies  nearly  a  tenth  of  its  extent, 
or  168  square  miles.  The  lake  of  Xochimilco  con- 
tains 49£,  that  of  Tezcuco  77,  of  San  Christobal  27i, 
and  of  Zumpango  9T9F,  square  miles.  The  valley 
itself  is  a  basin  enclosed  by  a  wall  of  porphyritic 
mountains,  and  all  the  water  furnished  by  the*  sur- 
rounding cordilleras  is  collected  in  it.  No  stream 
issues  from  it  excepting  the  brook  of  Tequisquiac, 
which  joins  the  Rio  de  Tula.  The  lakes  rise  by 
stages  in  proportion  to  their  distance  from  its  centre, 
or,  in  other  words,  from  the  site  of  the  capital. 
Next  to  the  lake  of  Tezcuco,  Mexico  is  the  least  ele- 
vated point  of  the  valley,  the  plaza  mayor  or  great 
square  being  only  1  foot  1  inch  higher  than  the  mean 
level  of  its  water,  which  is  111  feet  lower  than  that 
of  San  Christobal.  Zumpango,  which  is  the  most 

*  "  These  are  long-narrow  strips  of  ground  redeemed  from  the  sur- 
rounding swamp,  and  intersected  by  small  canals.  They  all  appear  to 
abound  in  very  fine  vegetables,  and  lively-foliaged  poplars  generally 
shadowed  their  extremities.  The  little  gardens  constructed  on  bushes, 
or  wooden  rafts,  no  longer  exist  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Mexico ;  but 
I  learned  that  some  may  yet  be  seen  at  Inchimilco,  a  place  near  San  Au- 
gustin  de  las  Cuevas."— Captain  Lyorts  Journal  of  o.  Residence  and 
Tour  in  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  vol.  ii,  p.  110. 


INUNDATIONS.  315 

northern,  is  29  "211  inches  higher  than  the  surface 
of  Tezcuco  ;  while  that  of  Chalco,  at  the  southern 
extremity,  is  only  3 '632  feet  more  elevated  than  the 
great  square  of  Mexico. 

In  consequence  of  this  peculiarity,  the  city  has, 
for  a  long  series  of  ages,  been  exposed  to  inunda- 
tions. The  lake  of  Zumpango,  swelled  by  an  unusual 
rise  of  the  Rio  de  Guautitlan,  flows  over  into  that  of 
San  Christobal,  which  again  bursts  the  dike  that 
separates  it  from  Tezcuco.  The  water  of  this  last 
is  consequently  augmented,  and  flows  with  impet- 
uosity into  the  streets  of  Mexico.  Since  the  arrival 
of  the  Spaniards  the  town  has  experienced  five 
great  floods,  the  latest  of  which  happened  in  1629. 
In  more  recent  periods  there  have  been  several 
alarming  appearances,  but  the  city  was  preserved 
from  any  actual  loss  by  the  desague  or  canal,  which 
was  formed  for  the  purpose. 

The  situation  of  the  capital  is  more  exposed  to 
danger,  because  the  bed  of  the  lake  is  progressively 
rising  in  consequence  of  the  mud  carried  into  it,  and 
the  difference  between  it  and  the  level  of  the  plain 
diminishing.  Previous  to  the  conquest,  and  for  some 
time  after,  it  was  defended  by  dikes ;  but  this  method 
having  been  found  ineffectual,  the  viceroy  in  1607 
employed  Enrico  Martinez,  a  native  of  Germany,  to 
effect  the  evacuation  of  the  lakes.  After  making  an 
exact  survey  of  the  valley,  he  presented  two  plans 
for  canals,  the  one  to  empty  those  of  Tezcuco,  Zum- 
pango, and  San  Christobal,  the  other  to  drain  that  of 
Zumpango  alone.  The  latter  scheme  was  adopted, 
and  in  consequence,  the  famous  subterraneous  gal- 
lery of  Ndchistongo  was  commenced  on  the  28th 
November,  1607.  Fifteen  thousand  Indians  were 
employed,  and  after  eleven  months  of  continued  la- 
bour the  work  was  completed.  Its  length  was  more 
than  21,654  feet,  its  breadth  11 '482,  and  its  height 
13-780.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  hill  of  Nochis- 
tongo  is  the  UIQ  de.  Tula,  which  runs  into  the  Rio  de 


316  INUNDATIONS. 

Panuco,  and  from  the  northern  or  farther  extremity 
of  the  gallery  an  open  trench,  28,216  feet  long,  was 
cut  to  carry  the  water  to  the  former  river.  Soon 
after  the  current  began  to  flow  through  this  artificial 
channel,  it  gradually  occasioned  depositions  and  ero- 
sions, so  that  it  became  necessary  to  support  the 
roof,  which  was  composed  of  marl  and  clay.  For 
this  purpose  wood  was  at  first  employed,  and  after- 
ward masonry;  but  the  arches  being  soon  under- 
mined, the  passage  at  length  was  obstructed. 

Several  plans  were  now  proposed,  and  in  16 14  the 
court  of  Madrid  sent  to  Mexico  a  Dutch  engineer, 
Adrian  Boot,  who  advised  the  construction  of  great 
dikes  after  the  Indian  plan.  A  new  viceroy,  how- 
ever, having  recently  arrived,  who  had  never  wit- 
nessed the  effects  of  an  inundation,  ordered  Marti- 
nez to  stop  up  the  subterraneous  passage,  and  make 
the  water  of  the  upper  lakes  return  to  the  bed  of  the 
Tezcuco,  that  he  might  see  if  the  danger  were  really 
so  great  as  it  had  been  represented.  Being  con- 
vinced that  it  was  so,  he  ordered  the  German  to  re- 
commence his  operations  in  the  gallery.  The  engi- 
neer accordingly  proceeded  to  clear  it,  and  contin- 
ued working  until  the  20th  June,  1629,  when  finding 
the  mass  of  water  too  great  to  be  received  by  this 
narrow  outlet,  he  closed  it  in  order  to  prevent  its 
destruction.  ]n  the  morning  the  city  of  Mexico 
was  flooded  to  the  depth  of  three  feet,  and,  con- 
trary to  expectation,  remained  in  that  state  for  five 
years.  In -this  interval  various  plans  were  proposed 
for  draining  the  neighbouring  lake,  although  none 
of  them  was  carried  into  effect ;  but  the  inundation 
at  length  subsided  in  consequence  of  a  succession 
of  earthquakes. 

Martinez,  who  had  been  imprisoned  from  a  belief 
that  he  had  closed  the  gallery  for  the  purpose  of 
affording  the  incredulous  a  proof  of  the  utility  of 
his  work,  was  now  set  at  liberty,  and  constructed 
the  dike  of  San  Christobal.  He  was  ordered  to  en- 


INTENDANCY  OF  TUEBLA.         317 

large  the  gallery ;  but  the  operations  were  conducted 
with  very  little  energy,  and  in  the  end  it  was  deter- 
mined to  abandon  the  plan,  to  remove  the  top  of  the 
vault,  and  to  convert  it  into  an  open  passage  by  cut- 
ting through  the  hill.  A  lawyer,  named  Martin  de 
Solis,  undertook  the  management  of  this  enterprise ; 
though  it  required  nearly  two  centuries  to  complete 
the  work  ;  the  canal  not  being  opened  in  its  whole 
length  until  1789.  As  it  now  appears,  it  is  stated  by 
Humboldt  to  be  one  of  the  most  gigantic  hydraulic 
operations  executed  by  man.  Its  length  is  67,537  feet, 
its  greatest  depth  197,  and  its  greatest  breadth  361. 

The  safety  of  the  capital  depends,  1st,  On  the 
stone  dikes,  which  prevent  the  water  of  the  lake  of 
Zumpango  from  passing  into  that  of  San  Christobal, 
and  the  latter  from  flowing  into  the  Tezcuco ;  2d, 
On  the  dikes  and  sluices  which  prevent  the  lakes  of 
Chalco  and  Xochimilco  from  overflowing;  3d,  On 
the  great  cut  of  Enrico  Martinez,  by  which  the  Rio 
de  Guautitlan  passes  across  the  hills  in  the  valley 
of  Tula ;  and,  4th,  On  the  canals  by  which  the  Zum- 
pango  and  San  Christobal  may  be  completely  drained. 
These  means,  however  expensive  and  numerous  as 
they  must  appear,  are  insufficient  to  secure  it  against 
inundations  proceeding  from  the  north  and  north- 
west ;  and  our  author  asserts,  that  it  will  continue  ex- 
posed to  great  risks  until  a  canal  shall  be  directly 
opened  from  the  lake  of  Tezcuco. 

The  intendancy  of  Mexico  contains,  besides  the 
capital,  several  towns  of  considerable  size,  of  which 
the  more  important  are,  Tezcuco,  Acapulco,  Tolucca, 
and  Queretaro,  the  latter  having  a  population  of 
thirty-five  thousand. 

2.  The  government  of  Puebla  is  wholly  situated 
in  the  torrid  zone,  and  is  bounded  on  the  north-east 
by  that  of  Vera  Cruz,  on  the  south  by  the  ocean,  on 
the  east  by  the  province  of  Oaxaca,  and  on  the  west 
by  that  of  Mexico.  It  is  traversed  by  vthe  cordille- 
ras  of  Anahuacj  and  contains  the  highest  mountain 


318  GUANAXUATO VALLADOLID. 

in  New-Spain,  the  volcano  of  Popocatepetl.  A  great 
portion,  however,  consists  of  an  elevated  plain,  on 
which  are  cultivated  wheat,  maize,  agave,  and  fruit- 
trees. 

The  population  is  concentrated  on  this  table-land, 
extending  from  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Nevados,  or 
Snowy  Mountains,  to  the  vicinity  of  Perote.  It 
exhibits  remarkable  vestiges  of  ancient  Mexican 
civilization.  The  great  pyramid  of  Cholula  has  a 
much  larger  base  than  any  edifice  of  the  kind  in  the 
Old  Continent,  its  horizontal  breadth  being  not  less 
than  1440  feet ;  but  its  present  height  is  only  fifty- 
nine  yards,  while  the  platform  on  its  summit  has  a 
surface  of  45,210  feet. 

At  the  village  of  Atlixco  is  seen  a  cypress  (Cu- 
pressus  disticha)  76  feet  in  circumference,  which  is 
probably  one  of  the  oldest  vegetable  monuments  on 
the  globe.*  There  are  very  considerable  saltworks 
in  this  intendancy,  and  a  beautiful  marble  is  quarried 
in  the  vicinity  of  Puebla.  The  principal  towns  are 
that  just  named,  containing  a  population  of  67,800, 
Cholula,  Tlascala,  and  Atlixco. 

3.  The  intendancy  of  Guanaxuato,  situated  on  the 
ridge  ^of  the   cordillera  of  Anahuac,  is  the  most 
populous  in  New-Spain,  and  contains  three  cities, 
Guanaxuato,  Celayo,  and  Salvatierra,  four  towns,  37 
villages,  and  448  farms  or  haciendas.     It  is  in  gene- 
ral highly  cultivated,  and  possesses  the  most  import- 
ant mines  in  that  section  of  the  New  World. 

4.  The  intendancy  of  Valladolid  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  the  Rio  de  Lerma ;  on  the  east  and  north- 

*  "On  entering  the  gardens  of  Chapultepec  (near  Mexico),  the  first 
object  that  strikes  the  eye  is  the  magnificent  cypress  (Subino  Ahuahuete, 
or  Cupressus  disticha),  called  the  Cypress  of  Montezuma.  Jt  had  at- 
tained its  full  growth  when  that  monarch  was  on  the  throne  (1520),  so 
that  it  must  now  be  at  least  400  years  old,  yet  it  still  retains  all  the  vigour 
of  youthful  vegetation.  The  trunk  is  41  feet  in  circumference,  yet  the 
height  is  so  majestic  as  to  make  even  this  enormous  mass  appear  slender." 
—  Ward's  Mexico  in  1827,  vol.  ii.  p.  230.  The  same  author  mentions 
another  cypress,  38  feet  in  girth,  and  of  equal  height  to  that  of  Monte- 
zuma. 


GUADALAXARA — ZACATECAS 0  AXACA.   319 

east  by  that  of  Mexico ;  on  the  south  by  the  district 
of  Guanaxuato ;  and  on  the  west  by  the  province  of 
Guadalaxara.  Being  situated  on  the  western  de- 
clivity of  the  cordillera  of  Anahuac  and  intersected 
by  hills  and  beautiful  valleys,  it  in  general  enjoys  a 
mild  and  temperate  climate.  The  volcano  of  Jorullo, 
already  described,  is  situated  in  this  intendancy,  which 
has  three  cities,  three  towns,  and  263  villages.  The 
southern  part  is  inhabited  by  Indians. 

5.  The  province  of  Guadalaxara  is  bounded  on  the 
north  by  the  governments  of  Sonora  and  Durango, 
on  the  east  by  those  of  Zacatecas  and  Guanaxuato, 
on  the  south  by  the  district  of  Valladolid,  and  on 
the  west  by  the  Pacific  Ocean.     Its  greatest  breadth 
is  345   miles,  and  its  greatest  length   407.     It   is 
crossed  from  east  to  west  by  the  Rio  de  Santiago, 
which  is  of  considerable  size.     The  eastern  portion 
consists  of  the  elevated  platform  and  western  de- 
clivity of  the  cordilleras  of  Anahuac.     The  maritime 
parts-  are  covered  with  forests,  which   abound  in 
excellent  timber.     The  volcano  of  Colima,  situated 
in  this  district,  is  the  most  western  of  those  of  New- 
Spain.     It  frequently  throws  up  ashes  and  smoke ; 
but  its  height  is  not  so  great  as  to  carry  its  summit 
into  the  region  of  perpetual  snow.     The  most  re- 
markable towns  are,  Guadalaxara,  which  has  a  pop- 
ulation of  19,500,  San  Bias,  a  port  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Santiago,  and  Compostella. 

6.  The  intendancy  of  Zacatecas,  bounded  on  the 
north  by  Durango,  on  the  east  by  San  Luis  Potosi, 
on  the  south  by  Guanaxuato,  and  on  the  west  by 
Guadalaxara,  is  293   miles   in  length,  and  176   in 
breadth.     The  table-land,  which  forms  its  central 
part,  is  composed  of  syenite  and  primitive  slate. 
Near  Zacatecas  are  nine  small  lakes,  abounding  in 
muriate  and  carbonate  of  soda.     This  district  is  very 
thinly  peopled,  although  the  town  has  33,000  inhab- 
itants. 

7.  The  intendancy  of  Oaxaca  is  one  of  the  most 


320  INTENDANCY    OP    MERIDA. 

delightful  countries  in  the  New  Continent,  possess- 
ing great  fertility  of  soil  and  salubrity  of  climate. 
It  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Guatimala ;  on  the  west 
by  the  province  of  Puebla ;  and  on  the  south  by  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  The  mountainous  parts  are  composed 
of  granite  and  gneiss.  The  vegetation  is  every- 
where exceedingly  beautiful.  At  the  village  of 
Santa  Maria  del  Tule,  ten  miles  east  of  the  capital, 
there  is  an  enormous  trunk  of  Cupressus  disticha, 
118  feet  in  circumference,  though  it  seems  rather  to 
be  formed  of  three  stems  grown  into  one. 

The  most  remarkable  object  in  this  district  is  the 
palace  of  Mitla,  the  walls  of  which  are  decorated 
with  grecques  and  labyrinths  in  mosaic,  resembling 
the  ornaments  of  Tuscan  vases.  It  consists  of  three 
edifices,  and  is  morever  distinguished  from  other 
ancient  Mexican  buildings  by  six  porphyritic  columns 
which  support  the  ceiling  of  a  vast  hall.  These 
pillars  have  neither  base  nor  capital ;  each  exhibits 
a  single  block  of  stone,  and  the  height  is  about  six- 
teen feet.  Oaxaca,  the  principal  town,  contained,  in 
the  year  1792,  twenty-four  thousand  inhabitants. 
Some  of  the  mines  are  very  productive. 

8.  The  intendancy  of  Merida  comprehends  the 
great  peninsula  of  Yucatan,  situated  between  the 
Bay  of  Campeachy  and  that  of  Honduras.  It  is 
bounded  on  the  south  by  Guatimala,  on  the  east  by 
the  province  of  Vera  Cruz,  and  on  the  west  by  the 
English  establishments,  which  extend  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Rio  Hondo  to  the  north  of  the  Bay  of  Han- 
over. This  peninsula  is  a  Tast  plain,  intersected  by 
a  chain  of  hills ;  and  though  one  of  the  warmest,  it 
is  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  healthiest  provinces 
of  equinoctial  America.  The  latter  circumstance  is 
to  be  attributed  to  the  extreme  dryness  of  the  soil 
and  atmosphere.  No  European  grain  is  produced ; 
but  maize,  jatropha,  and  dioscorea  are  cultivated  in 
abundance.  The  Hosmatoxyloa  or  Campeachy  wood 


INTEND ANCY  OF  VERA  CRUZ.       321 

abounds  in  several  districts.     Merida,  the  capital, 
has  a  population  of  10,000. 

9.  The  government  of  Vera  Cruz  extends  along  the 
Mexican  Gulf  from  the  Rio  Bdraderas  to  the  great 
river  of  Panuco.  The  western  part  forms  the  de- 
clivity of  the  cordilleras  of  Anahuac,  from  whence, 
amid  the  regions  of  perpetual  snow,  the  inhabitants 
descend  in  a  day  to  the  burning  plains  of  the  coast. 
In  this  district  are  displayed  in  a  remarkable  manner 
the  gradations  of  vegetation,  from  the  level  of  the 
sea  to  those  elevated  summits  which  are  visited  with 
perennial  frost.  In  ascending,  the  traveller  sees  the 
physiognomy  of  the  country,  the  aspect  of  the  sky, 
the  form  of  the  plants,  the  figures  of  animals,  the 
manners  of  the  inhabitants,  and  the  kind  of  cultiva- 
tion followed  by  them,  assuming  a  different  appear- 
ance at  every  step.  Leaving  the  lower  districts, 
covered  with  a  beautiful  and  luxuriant  vegetation,  he 
first  enters  that  in  which  the  oak  appears,  where  he 
has  no  longer  cause  to  dread  the  yellow  fever,  so  fatal 
on  the  coasts.  Forests  of  liquidambar,  near  Xalapa, 
announce  by  their  freshness  the  elevation  at  which 
the  strata  of  clouds,  suspended  over  the  ocean,  come 
in  contact  with  the  basaltic  summits  of  the  cordil- 
leras. A  little  higher  the  banana  ceases  to  yield 
fruit.  At  the  height  of  San  Miguel  pines  begin  to 
mingle  with  the  oaks,  which  continue  as  far  as  the 
plains  of  Perote,  where  the  cereal  vegetation  of 
Europe  is  seen.  Beyond  this,  the  former  alone 
cover  the  rocks,  the  tops  of  which  enter  the  region 
of  perpetual  frigidity. 

At  the  foot  of  the  cordillera,  in  the  evergreen, 
forests  of  Papautla,  Nautla,  and  S.  Andre  Tuxtla, 
grows  the  vanilla,  the  fruit  of  which  is  used  for 
perfuming  chocolate.  The  beautiful  convolvulus, 
whose  root  furnishes  the  jalap  of  the  apothecaries, 
grows  near  the  Indian  villages  of  Colipa  and  Mi- 
sautla.  The  pimento-myrtle  is  produced  in  the  woods 
which  extend  towards  the  river  of  Baraderas.  On 


322  VERA    CRUZ. 

the  declivities  of  Orizaba  tobacco  of  excellent  quality 
is  cultivated ;  and  the  sarsaparilla  grows  in  the  moist 
and  shady  ravines.  Cotton  and  sugar  of  excellent 
quality  are  produced  along  the  greater  part  of  the 
coast. 

In  this  intendancy  are  two  colossal  summits, — 
the  volcano  of  Orizaba,  which  after  Popocatepetl  is 
the  highest  in  New-Spain,  and  the  Cofre  de  Perote, 
which  is  nearly  1312  feet  more  elevated  than  the 
Peak  of  Teneriffe.  In  its  northern  part,  near  the 
Indian  village  of  Papautla,  is  a  pyramidal  edifice  of 
great  antiquity,  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  thick  forest. 
It  is  not  constructed  of  bricks,  or  clay  mixed  with 
stone,  and  faced  with  amygdaloid,  like  those  of  Cho- 
lula  and  Tectihuacan ;  on  the  contrary,  the  materials 
employed  have  been  immense  blocks  of  porphyry. 
The  base  is  an  exact  square,  82  feet  on  each  side, 
and  the  perpendicular  height  seems  to  be  about  sixty. 
It  is  composed  of  several  stages,  of  which  some 
are  still  distinguishable.  A  great  stair  of  57  steps 
conducts  to  the  truncated  summit. 

The  most  remarkable  cities  are  Vera  Cruz,  Perote, 
Cordoba,  and  Orizaba.  The  first  of  these,  t]ie  centre 
of  European  and  West  Indian  commerce,  is  beauti- 
fully and  regularly  built ;  but  it  is  situated  in  an  arid 
plain,  destitute  of  running  water,  and  partly  covered 
with  shifting  sand-hills,  which  contribute  to  increase 
the  suffocating  heat  of  the  air.  In  the  midst  of 
these  downs  are  marshy  lands  covered  with  rhizo- 
phorae  and  other  plants.  No  stones  for  architectural 
purposes  are  to  be  found  near  the  city,  which  is 
entirely  constructed  of  coral  rock  drawn  from  the 
bottom  of  the  sea.  The  water  is  Very  bad,  and  is 
obtained  either  by  digging  in  the  sandy  soil,  or  by 
collecting  the  rain  in  cisterns. 

Xalapa,  the  population  of  which  is  estimated  at 
13,000,  occupies  a  very  romantic  situation  at  the  foot 
of  the  basaltic  mountain  of  Macultepec,  surrounded  by 
forests  of  styrax,  piper,  melastomse,  and  tree-ferns. 


NORTHERN   DISTRICTS.  323 

The  sky  is  beautiful  and  serene  in  summer,  but  from 
December  to  February  it  has  a  most  melancholy 
aspect,  and,  whenever  the  north  wind  blows,  is 
overcast  to  such  a  degree  that  the  sun  and  stars  are 
frequently  invisible  for  two  or  three  weeks  together. 
Some  of  the  merchants  of  Vera  Cruz  have  country- 
houses  at  Xalapa,  where  they  enjoy  a  cool  and 
agreeable  retreat,  while  the  coast  is  almost  unin- 
habitable, on  account  of  the  intense  heats,  the  mos- 
quitoes, and  the  yellow  fever. 

10.  The  captaincy  of  San  Luis  Potosi  embraces 
the  whole  north-eastern  part  of  New-Spain,  and  is 
extremely  diversified  in  its  character.     The  only 
portion  which  is  cold  and  mountainous  is  that  ad- 
joining the  province  of  Zacatecas,  and  in  which  are 
the  rich  mines  of  Charcas,  Guadalcagar,  and  Catorce. 
There  is  a  great  extent  of  low  ground,  partly  cul- 
tivated, but  for  the  most  part  barren  and  uninhabited. 
Its  coast  line  is  more  than  794  miles  in  length ;  but 
hardly  any  commerce  enlivens  it,  owing  to  the  de- 
ficiency of  harbours.     The  mouths  of  the  rivers, 
too,  are  blocked  up  by  bars,  necks  of  land,  and  long 
islands  running  parallel  to  the  coast. 

11.  New-Biscay  or  Durango  occupies  a  greater 
space  of  ground  than  Great   Britain  and  Ireland, 
though  its  population  does  not  exceed  160,000.     It  is 
bounded  on  the  south  by  Zacatecas  and  Guadalaxara ; 
on  the  south-east  by  San  Luis ;  and  on  the  west  by 
Sonora.     On  the  northern  and  eastern  sides,  for  more 
than  690  miles,  it  borders  on  an  uncultivated  country 
inhabited  by  independent  Indians.     This  intendancy 
comprehends  the  northern  extremity  of  the  great 
table-land  of  Anahuac,  which  declines  towards  the 
Rio  Grande  del  Norte. 

12.  The  province  of  Sonora  is  still  more  thinly 
peopled  than  Durango.     It  extends  on  the  shores  of 
the  Gulf  of  California  more  than  966  miles. 

13.  New-Mexico,  which  is  very  sparingly  inhabited, 


324      •  CALIFORNIA. 

stretches  along  the  Rio  Norte,  and  has  a  remarkably 
cold  climate. 

14.  Old   California  equals   England  in  extent  oi 
territory,  but  has  only  a  population  of  9000.     The 
soil  of  this  peninsula  is  parched  and  sandy,  and  the 
vegetation  feeble  ;  but  the  sky  is  constantly  clear,  and 
of  a  deep  blue  ;  the  light  clouds  which  sometimes  ap- 
pear presenting  at  sunset  the  most  beautiful  shades 
of  violet,  purple,  and  green.     A  chain  of  mountains, 
the  highest  of  which  is  about  5000  feet,  runs  through 
the  centre  of  the  peninsula,  and  is  inhabited  by  ani- 
mals resembling  the  mouflon  of  Sardinia,  which  the 
Spaniards  call  wild  sheep.     The  principal  attraction 
which  California  has  afforded  to  Europeans  since  the 
16th  century  is  the  great  quantity  of  pearls  found  in 
it,  and  which,  although  frequently  of  an  irregular 
form,  are  large  and  of  a  very  beautiful  water.     At  the 
present  day,  however,  this  fishery  is  almost  entirely 
abandoned. 

15.  New-California  is  a  long  and  narrow  country, 
identifying  itself  with  the  shore  of  the  Pacific  Ocean 
from  the  isthmus  of  Old  California  to  Cape  Mendo- 
cino.     It  is  extremely  picturesque,    and  enjoys  a 
fertile  well- watered  soil,  with  a  temperate  climate. 
Wheat,  barley,  maize,  beans,  and  other  useful  plants 
thrive  well,  as  do  the  vine  and  olive ;  but  the  popula- 
tion is  scanty  compared  to  the  territory.     A  cordil- 
lera  of  small  elevation  runs  along  the  coast,  and  the 
forests  and  prairies  are  filled  with  deer  of  gigantic 
size. 


PLANTS    CULTIVATED    IN  MEXICO.  325 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

Statistical  Account  of  New- Spain  continued. 

Agriculture  of  Mexico — Banana,  Manioc,  and  Maize — Cereal  Plants — 
Nutritive  Roots  and  Vegetables — Agave  Americana — Colonial  Com- 
modities—Cattle, and  Animal  Productions. 

A  COUNTRY  extending  from  the  sixteenth  to  the 
thirty-seventh  degree  of  latitude,  and  presenting  a 
great  variety  of  surface,  necessarily  affords  numerous 
modifications  of  climate.  Such  is  the  admirable  dis- 
tribution of  heat  on  the  globe,  that  the  strata  of  the 
atmosphere  become  colder  as  we  ascend,  while  those 
of  the  sea  are  warmest  near  the  surface.  Hence, 
under  the  tropics,  on  the  declivities  of  the  cordilleras, 
and  in  the  depths  of  the  ocean,  the  plants  and  marine 
animals  of  the  polar  regions  find  a  temperature  suited 
to  their  development.  It  may  easily  be  conceived 
that,  in  a  mountainous  country  like  Mexico,  having 
so  great  a  diversity  of  elevation,  temperature,  and 
soil,  the  variety  of  indigenous  productions  must  be 
immense ;  and  that  most  of  the  plants  cultivated  in 
other  parts  of  the  globe  may  there  find  situations 
adapted  to  their  nature. 

There,  however,  the  principal  objects  of  agricul- 
ture are  not  the  productions  which  European  luxury 
draws  from  the  West  India  islands,  but  the  grasses, 
nutritive  roots,  and  the  agave.  The  appearance  of 
the  land  proclaims  to  the  traveller  that  the  natives 
are  nourished  by  the  soil,  and  that  they  are  inde- 
pendent of  foreign  commerce.  Yet  agriculture  is 
by  no  means  so  flourishing  as  might  be  expected 
from  its  natural  resources,  although  considerable  im- 
provement has  been  effected  of  late  years.  The  de- 
pressed state  of  cultivation,  it  is  true,  has  been  attrib- 


326  BANANA. 

uted  to  the  existence  of  numerous  rich  mines ;  but 
Humboldt,  on  the  contrary,  maintains  that  the  work- 
ing of  these  ores  has  been  beneficial  in  causing  many 
places  to  be  improved  which  would  otherwise  have 
remained  steril.  When  a  vein  is  opened  on  the 
barren  ridge  of  the  cordilleras,  the  new  colonists  can 
only  draw  the  means  of  subsistence  from  a  great 
distance.  Want  soon  excites  to  industry,  and  farms 
begin  to  be  established  in  the  neighbourhood.  The 
high  price  of  provisions  indemnifies  the  cultivator 
for  the  hard  life  to  which  he  is  exposed,  and  the 
ravines  and  valleys  become  gradually  covered  with 
food.  When  the  mineral  treasures  are  exhausted,  the 
workmen  no  doubt  emigrate,  so  that  the  population 
is  diminished  ;  but  the  settlers  are  retained  by  their 
attachment  to  the  spot  in  which  they  have  passed 
their  childhood.  The  Indians,  moreover,  prefer  liv- 
ing in  the  solitudes  of  the  mountains  remote  from 
the  whites,  and  this  circumstance  tends  to  increase 
the  number  of  inhabitants  in  such  districts. 

In  describing  the  vegetable  productions  of  New- 
Spain,  our  author  begins  with  those  which  form  the 
principal  support  of  the  people,  then  treats  of  the 
class  which  affords  materials  for  manufacture,  and 
ends  with  such  as  constitute  objects  of  commerce. 

The  banana  (Musa  paradisiaca)  is  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  torrid  zone  what  the  cereal  grasses — wheat, 
barley,  and  rye — are  to  Western  Asia  and  Europe, 
and  what  the  numerous  varieties  of  rice  are  to  the 
natives  of  India  and  China.  Forster  and  other 
naturalists  have  maintained  that  it  did  not  exist  in 
America  previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  but 
that  it  was  imported  from  the  Canary  Islands  in  the 
beginning  of  the  16th  century;  and  in  support  of 
this  opinion  may  be  adduced  the  silence  of  Columbus, 
Alonzo  Negro,  Pinzon,  Vespucci,  and  Cortes,  with 
respect  to  it.  This  circumstance,  however,  only 
proves  the  inattention  of  these  travellers  to  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  soil ;  and  it  is  probable  that  the  Musa 


BANANA.  327 

presented  several  species  indigenous  to  different 
parts  of  both  continents.  The  space  favourable  to 
the  cultivation  of  this  valuable  plant  in  Mexico  is 
more  than  50,000  square  leagues,  and  has  nearly  a 
million  and  a  half  of  inhabitants.  In  the  warm  and 
humid  valleys  of  Vera  Cruz,  at  the  foot  of  the  cor- 
dillera  of  Orizaba,  the  fruit  occasionally  exceeds 
ll'S  inches  in  circumference,  with  a  length  of  seven 
or  eight.  A  bunch  sometimes  contains  from  160  to 
180,  and  weighs  from  66  to  88  Ib.  avoirdupois. 

Humboldt  doubts  whether  there  is  any  other  plant 
on  the  globe  which,  in  so  small  a  space  of  ground, 
can  produce  so  great  a  mass  of  nutriment.  Eight 
or  nine  months  after  the  sucker  has  been  inserted  in 
the  earth  the  banana  begins  to  form  its  clusters,  and 
the  fruit  may  be  gathered  in  less  than  a  year.  When 
the  stalk  is  cut,  there  is  always  found  among  the 
numerous  shoots  which  have  put  forth  roots  one  that 
bears  three  months  later.  A  plantation  is  perpetuated 
without  any  other  care  than  that  of  cutting  the  stems 
on  which  the  fruit  has  ripened,  and  giving  the  earth 
a  slight  dressing.  A  spot  of  1076  feet  may  contain 
at  least  from  thirty  to  forty  plants,  which,  in  the 
space  of  a  year,  at  a  very  moderate  calculation,  will 
yield  more  than  4410  Ib.  avoirdupois  of  nutritive  sub- 
stance. Our  author  estimates,  that  the  produce  of 
the  banana  is  to  that  of  wheat  as  133 :  1,  and  to  that 
of  potatoes  as  44  :  1. 

In  America  numerous  preparations  are  made  of 
this  fruit,  both  before  and  after  its  maturity.  When 
fully  ripe  it  is  exposed  to  the  sun,  and  preserved  like 
our  figs ;  the  skin  becoming  black,  and  exhaling  a  pe-. 
culiar  odour  like  that  of  smoked  harn.  This  dry  ban- 
ana (Platanopassado),  which  is  an  object  of  commerce 
in  the  province  of  Mechoacan,  has  an  agreeable  taste, 
and  is  a  very  wholesome  article  of  food.  Meal  or 
flour  is  obtained  from  it,  by  being  cut  into  slices,  dried 
in  the  sun,  and  pounded, 

It  is  calculated  that  the  same  extent  of  ground  in, 


328  MANIOC MAIZE. 

Mexico  on  which  the  banana  is  raised  is  capable 
of  maintaining  fifty  individuals,  whereas  in  Europe 
under  wheat  it  would  not  furnish  subsistence  for  two ; 
and  nothing  strikes  a  traveller  more  than  the  diminu- 
tive appearance  of  the  spots  under  culture  round  a 
hut  which  contains  a  numerous  family. 

The  region  where  it  is  cultivated  produces  also  the 
valuable  plant  (Jatropha)  of  which  the  root,  as  is 
well  known,  affords  the  flour  of  manioc,  usually  con- 
verted into  bread,  and  furnishes  what  the  Spanish 
colonists  call  pan  de  tierra  caliente.  This  vegetable 
is  only  successfully  grown  within  the  tropics,  and 
in  the  mountainous  region  of  Mexico  is  never  seen 
above  the  elevation  of  2625  feet.  Two  kinds  are 
raised,  the  sweet  and  the  bitter.  The  root  of  the 
former  may  be  eaten  without  danger,  while  that  of 
the  latter  is  a  very  active  poison.  Both  may  be  made 
into  bread ;  but  the  bitter  is  preferred  for  this  pur- 
pose, the  poisonous  juice  being  carefully  separated 
from  the  fecula,  called  cassava,  before  making  the 
dough.  Raynal  asserted  that  the  manioc  was  trans- 
ported from  Africa  to  America  to  serve  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  negroes ;  but  our  author  shows  that 
it  was  cultivated  there  long  before  the  arrival  of 
Europeans  on  that  side  of  the  Atlantic.  The  bread 
made  of  it  is  very  nutritive ;  but,  being  extremely 
brittle,  it  does  not  answer  for  distant  carriage.  The 
fecula,  however,  grated,  dried,  and  smoked,  is  used 
on  journeys.  The  root  loses  its  poisonous  qualities 
on  being  boiled,  and  in  this  state  the  decoction  is 
used  as  a  sauce,  although  serious  accidents  some- 
times happen  when  it  has  not  been  long  enough  ex- 
posed to  heat.  The  husbandry  of  it,  we  may  observe, 
requires  more  care  than  that  of  the  banana.  In  this 
respect  it  resembles  the  potato ;  and  the  roots  are 
ripe  in  seven  or  eight  months  after  the  slips  have 
been  planted. 

The  same  region  produces  maize,  the  cultivation 
of  which  is  more  extensive  than  that  of  the  banana 


CULTIVATION    OF    MAIZE.  329 

and  manioc.  Advancing  towards  the  central  plains, 
we  meet  with  fields  of  this  important  plant  all  the 
way  from  the  coast  to  the  valley  of  Tolucca,  which 
is  upwards  of  9186  feet  above  the  sea.  Although  a 
great  quantity  of  other  grain  is  produced  in  Mexico, 
this  must  be  considered  as  the  principal  food  of  the 
people,  as  well  as  of  most  of  the  domestic  animals, 
and  the  year  in  which  the  maize  harvest  fails  is  one 
of  famine  and  misery  to  the  inhabitants.  There  is 
no  longer  a  doubt  among  botanists  that  this  plant  is 
of  American  origin,  and  that  the  Old  Continent  re- 
ceived it  from  the  New. 

It  does  not  thrive  in  Europe  where  the  mean  tem- 
perature is  less  than  44°  or  46°  ;  and  on  the  cordil- 
leras  of  New-Spain  rye  and  barley  are  seen  to  vege- 
tate vigorously  where  the  cultivation  of  maize  would 
not  be  attended  with  success.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  latter  thrives  in  the  lowest  plains  of  the  torrid 
zone,  where  wheat,  barley,  and  rye  are  not  found. 
Hence  we  cannot  be  surprised  to  hear  that  it  occu- 
pies a  much  greater  extent  in  equinoctial  America 
than  the  grains  of  the  Old  Continent. 

The  fecundity  of  the  Mexican  variety  is  astonishing1. 
Fertile  lands  usually  afford  a  return  of  300  or  400 
fold,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Valladolid  a  har- 
vest is  considered  defective  when  it  yields  only  130 
or  150.  Even  where  the  soil  is  most  steril  the  pro- 
duce varies  from  sixty  to  eighty.  The  general  esti- 
mate for  the  equinoctial  region  of  Mexico  may  be 
considered  as  a  hundred  and  fifty. 

Of  all  the  gramina  cultivated  by  man,  none  is  so 
unequal  as  this  in  its  produce,  as  it  varies  in  the  same 
field,  according  to  the  season,  from  forty  to  200  or  300 
for  one.  If  the  harvests  are  good,  the  agriculturist 
makes  his  fortune  more  rapidly  than  with  any  other 
grain ;  but  frightful  dearths  sometimes  occur,  when 
the  natives  are  obliged  to  feed  on  unripe  fruit,  cactus- 
berries,  and  roots.  Diseases  arise  in  consequence ; 
and  these  famines  are  usually  attended  with  a  great 
E  e2 


330  CEREAL    PLANTS 

mortality  among  the  children.  Fowls,  turkeys,  and 
even  cattle  suffer,  so  that  the  traveller  can  find 
neither  eggs  nor  poultry.  Scarcities  of  less  severity 
are  not  uncommon,  and  are  especially  felt  in  the  mining 
districts,  where  the  vast  numbers  of  mules  employed 
in  the  process  of  amalgamation  annually  consume 
an  enormous  quantity  of  maize. 

Numerous  varieties  of  food  are  derived  from  this 
plant.  The  ear  is  eaten  raw  or  boiled.  The  grain 
when  beaten  affords  a  nutritive  bread  called  arepa, 
and  the  meal  is  employed  in  making  soups  or  gruels, 
which  are  mixed  with  sugar,  honey,  and  sometimes 
even  pounded  potatoes.  Many  kinds  of  drink  are 
also  prepared  from  it,  some  resembling  beer,  others 
cider.  In  the  valley  of  Tolucca  the  stalks  are 
squeezed  between  cylinders,  and  from  the  fermented 
juice  a  spirituous  liquor,  called  pulquede  mahis,  is  pro- 
duced. 

In  favourable  years  Mexico  yields  a  much  larger 
quantity  than  is  necessary  for  its  own  consumption; 
but  as  this  grain  affords  less  nutritive  substance  in 
proportion  to  its  bulk  than  the  corn  of  Europe,  and 
as  the  roads  are  generally  difficult,  obstacles  are 
presented  to  its  transportation,  which,  however,  will 
diminish  when  the  country  is  more  improved. 

We  come  now  to  the  cereal  plants  which  have 
been  conveyed  from  the  Old  to  the  New  Continent. 
A  negro  slave  of  Cortes  found  among  the  rice  which 
served  to  maintain  the  Spanish  army  three  or  four 
particles  of  wheat,  which  were  sown,  we  may  sup- 
pose, before  the  year  1500.  A  Spanish  lady,  Maria 
d'Escobar,  carried  a  few  grains  to  Lima,  and  their 
produce  was  distributed  for  three  years  among  the 
new  colonists,  each  receiving  twenty  or  thirty  seeds. 
At  Quito  the  first  European  corn  was  sown  near  the 
convent  of  St.  Francis  by  Father  Jose  Rixi,  a  native 
of  Flanders,  and  the  monks  still  show,  as  a  precious 
relic,  the  earthen  vessel  in  which  the  original  wheat 
came  from  Europe.  "  Why,"  asks  our  author, 


CULTIVATED   IN  NEW-SPAIN.  331 

K  have  not  men  preserved  everywhere  the  names  of 
those  who,  in  place  of  ravaging  the  earth,  have  en- 
riched it  with  plants  useful  to  the  human  race  1" 

The  temperate  region  appears  most  favourable  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  cerealia,  or  nutritive  grasses 
known  to  the  ancients,  namely,  wheat,  spelt,  barley, 
oats,  and  rye.  In  the  equinoctial  part  of  Mexico 
they  are  nowhere  grown  in  plains  of  which  the 
elevation  is  under  2625  feet ;  and  on  the  declivity 
of  the  cordilleras  between  Vera  Cruz  and  Acapulco 
they  commence  at  the  height  of  3937.  At  Xalapa 
wheat  is  raised  solely  for  the  straw ;  for  there  it 
never  produces  seed,  although  in  Guatimala  grain 
ripens  at  smaller  elevations. 

Were  the  soil  of  New-Spain  watered  by  more  fre- 
quent showers,  it  would  be  one  of  the  most  fertile 
portions  of  the  globe.  In  the  equinoctial  districts 
of  that  country  there  are  only  two  seasons, — the 
wet,  from  June  or  July  to  September  or  October, 
and  the  dry,  which  lasts  eight  months.  The  rains, 
accompanied  with  electrical  explosions,  commence 
on  the  eastern  coast,  and  proceed  westward,  so  that 
they  begin  fifteen  or  twenty  days  sooner  at  Vera 
Cruz  than  on  the  central  plains.  Sometimes  they 
are  seen,  mixed  with  sleet  and  snow,  in  the  elevated 
parts  during  November,  December,  and  January,  but 
they  last  only  a  few  days.  It  is  seldom  that  the  in- 
habitants have  to  complain  of  humidity,  and  the  ex- 
cessive drought  which  prevails  from  June  to  Sep- 
tember compels  them  in  many  parts  to  have  recourse 
to  artificial  irrigation.  In  places  not  watered  in  this 
manner,  the  soil  yields  pasturage  only  till  March  or 
April,  after  which  the  south  wind  destroys  the  grass. 
This  change  is  more  felt  when  the  preceding  year 
has  been  unusually  dry,  and  the  wheat  suffers  greatly 
in  May.  The  rains  of  June,  however,  revive  the 
vegetation,  and  the  fields  immediately  resume  their 
verdure. 

In  lands  carefully  cultivated  the  produce  is  sur- 


332  WHEAT RYE OATS. 

prising,  especially  in  those  which  are  watered.  In 
the  most  fertile  part  of  the  table-land  between 
Queretaro  and  Leon,  the  wheat  harvest  is  35  and  40 
for  1 ;  and  several  farms  can  even  reckon  on  50  or 
60  for  1.  At  Cholulo  the  common  return  is  from 
30  to  40,  but  it  frequently  exceeds  from  70  to  80 
for  1.  In  the  valley  of  Mexico  maize  yields  200,  and 
wheat  18  or  20.  The  mean  produce  of  the  whole 
country  may  be  stated  at  20  or  25  for  1.  M.  Abad, 
a  canon  of  the  metropolitan  church  of  Valladolid 
de  Mechoacan,  took  at  random  from  a  field  of  wheat 
forty  plants,  when  he  found  that  each  seed  had  pro- 
duced forty,  sixty,  and  even  seventy  stalks.  The 
number  of  grains  which  the  ears  contained  frequently 
exceeded  100  or  120,  and  the  average  amount  ap- 
peared to  be  90.  Some  even  exhibited  160.  A  few 
of  the  elevated  tracts,  however,  are  covered  with  a 
kind  of  clay  impenetrable  by  the  roots  of  herbaceous 
plants,  and  others  are  arid  and  naked,  in  which  the 
cactus  and  other  prickly  shrubs  alone  vegetate. 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  mean  produce 
of  the  cereal  Dlants  in  different  countries  of  both 
continents : — 

In  France,  from  5  to  6  grains  for  1. 

In  Hungary,  Croatia,  and  Sclavonia,  from  8  to  10  grains. 

In  La  Plata,  12  grains. 

In  the  northern  part  of  Mexico,  17  grains. 

In  equinoctial  Mexico,  24  grains. 

In  the  province  of  Pasto  in  Santa  Fe,  25  grains. 

In  the  plain  of  Caxamarca  in  Peru,  18  to  20  grains. 

The  Mexican  wheat  is  of  the  very  best  quality, 
and  equals  the  finest  Andalusian.  At  Havana  it 
enters  into  competition  with  that  of  the  United 
States,  which  is  considered  inferior  to  it ;  and  when 
greater  facilities  are  afforded  for  exportation  it  will 
become  of  the  highest  importance  to  Europe.  In 
Mexico  grain  can  hardly  be  preserved  longer  than 
two  or  three  years ;  but  the  causes  of  this  decay 
have  not  been  sufficiently  investigated. 


PLANTS   WITH  NUTRITIVE   ROOTS.  333 

Rye  and  barley,  which  resist  cold  better  than 
wheat,  are  cultivated  on  the  highest  regions,  but 
only  to  a  small  extent.  Oats  do  not  answer  well  in 
New-Spain,  and  are  very  seldom  seen  even  in  the 
mother-country,  where  the  horses  are  fed  on  barley. 

The  potato  appears  to  have  been  introduced  into 
Mexico  nearly  at  the  same  period  as  the  cereal 
grasses  of  the  Old  Continent.  It  is  certain  that  it 
was  not  known  there  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Spaniards,  at  which  epoch  it  was  in  use  in  Chili, 
Peru,  Quito,  and  New-Grenada.  It  is  supposed  by 
botanists  that  it  grows  spontaneously  in  the  moun- 
tainous regions;  but  our  author  asserts  that  this 
opinion  is  erroneous,  and  that  the  plant  in  question 
is  nowhere  to  be  found  uncultivated  in  any  part  of 
the  cordilleras  within  the  tropics.  According  to 
Molina,  it  is  a  native  of  all  the  fields  of  Chili,  where 
another  species,  the  Solanum  cari,  still  unknown  in 
Europe,  and  even  in  Quito  and  Mexico,  is  grown ; 
and  M.  Humboldt  seems  to  consider  that  country  as 
the  original  source  of  it.  It  is  stated  that  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  found  it  in  Virginia  in  1584 ;  and  a  question 
arises,  whether  it  arrived  there  from  the  north,  or 
from  Chili,  or  some  other  of  the  Spanish  colonies. 
Our  traveller  seems  to  consider  it  not  improbable 
that  it  had  been  conveyed  from  some  of  the  Spanish 
colonies  by  the  English  themselves. 

The  plants  cultivated  in  the  highest  and  coldest 
parts  of  the  Andes  and  Mexican  cordilleras  are  po- 
tatoes, the  Trop&olum  esculentum,  and  the  Clieno- 
podium  quinoa.  The  first  of  these  are  an  important 
object  in  the  latter  country,  as  they  do  not  require 
much  humidity.  The  Mexicans  and  Peruvians  pre- 
serve them  for  a  series  of  years,  by  destroying  their 
power  of  germinating  by  exposure  to  frost,  and 
afterward  drying  them,— a  practice  which  our  au- 
thor thinks  might  be  followed  with  advantage  in 
Europe.  He  also  recommends  obtaining  the  seeds 
of  the  potatoes  cultivated  at  Quito  and  Santa  Fe, 


334  FRUIT-TREES. 

which  are  a  foot  in  diameter,  and  superior  in  quality 
to  those  in  the  Old  Continent.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
expatiate  on  the  advantages  derived  from  this  in- 
valuable root,  the  use  of  which  now  extends  from 
the  extremity  of  Africa  to  Lapland,  and  from  the 
southern  regions  of  America  to  Labrador. 

The  New  World  is  very  rich  in  plants  with  nu- 
tritive roots.  Next  to  the  manioc  and  the  potato, 
the  most  important  are  the  oca,  the  batate,  and  the 
igname.  The  first  of  these  (Oxalis  tuberosa)  grows 
in  the  cold  and  temperate  parts  of  the  cordilleras. 
The  igname  (Dioscorea  alata)  appears  proper  to  all 
the  equinoctial  regions  of  the  globe.  Of  the  batate 
(Convolvulus  batatas)  several  varieties  are  raised. 
The  cacomite,  a  species  of  Tigridia,  the  root  of  which 
yields  a  nutritive  farina,  numerous  varieties  of  love- 
apples  (Solanum  lycopersicunt),  the  earth  pistachio 
or  pea-nut  (Arachis  hypogaa),  and  different  species 
of  pimento,  are  the  other  useful  plants  cultivated 
there. 

The  Mexicans  now  have  all  the  culinary  vege- 
tables and  fruit-trees  of  Europe  ;  but  it  has  become 
difficult  to  determine  which  of  the  former  they  pos- 
sessed before  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards.  It  is 
certain,  however,  that  they  had  oni<^.s,  haricots, 
gourds,  and  several  varieties  of  Cicer ;  and,  in  gene- 
ral, if  we  consider  the  garden-stuffs  of  the  Aztecs 
and  the  great  number  of  farinaceous  roots  cultivated 
in  Mexico  and  Peru,  we  shall  see  that  they  were 
not  so  poor  in  alimentary  plants  as  some  maintain. 

The  central  table-land  of  New-Spain  produces  the 
ordinary  fruits  of  Europe  in  the  greatest  abundance ; 
and  the  traveller  is  surprised  to  see  the  tables  of  the 
wealthy  inhabitants^  loaded  with  the  vegetable  pro- 
ductions of  both  continents  in  the  most  perfect  state. 
Before  the  invasion  of  the  Spaniards,  Mexico  and 
the  Andes  presented  several  fruits  having  a  great 
resemblance  to  those  of  Europe.  The  mountainous 
part  of  South  America  has  a  cherry,  a  nut,  an  apple, 


AGAVE   AMERICANA-*- PULQTJE.  335 

a  mulberry,  a  strawberry,  a  rasp,  and  a  gooseberry, 
which  are  peculiar  to  it.  Oranges  and  citrons, 
which  are  now  cultivated  there,  appear  to  have  been 
introduced,  although  a  small  wild  orange  occurs  in 
Cuba  and  on  the  coast  of  Terra  Firma.  The  olive- 
tree  answers  perfectly  in  New-Spain,  but  exists 
only  in  very  small  numbers. 

Most  civilized  nations  procure  their  drinks  from 
the  plants  which  constitute  their  principal  nourish- 
ment, and  of  which  the  roots  or  seeds  contain  sac- 
charine and  amylaceous  matter.  There  are  few 
tribes,  indeed,  which  cultivate  these  solely  for  the 
purpose  of  preparing  beverages  from  them  ;  but  in 
the  New  Continent  we  find  a  people  who  not  only 
extract  liquors  from  the  maize,  the  manioc,  and 
bananas,  but  who  raise  a  shrub  of  the  family  of  the 
ananas  for  the  express  purpose  of  converting  its  juice 
into  a  spirituous  liquor.  This  plant,  the  maguey 
(Agave  Americana),  is  extensively  reared  as  far  as 
the  Aztec  language  extends.  The  finest  plantations 
of  it  seen  by  our  traveller  were  in  the  valley  of 
Tolucca  and  on  the  plains  of  Cholula.  It  yields  the 
saccharine  juice  at  the  period  of  inflorescence  only, 
the  approach  of  which  is  anxiously  observed.  Near 
the  latter  place,  and  between  Tolucca  and  Cacanu- 
macan,  a  ma^aey  eight  years  old  gives  signs  of  de- 
veloping its  flowers.  The  bundle  of  central  leaves 
is  now  cut,  the  wound  is  gradually  enlarged  and 
covered  with  the  foliage,  which  is  drawn  close  and 
tied  at  the  top.  In  this  wound  the  vessels  seem  to 
deposite  the  juice  that  would  naturally  have  gone  to 
expand  the  blossoms.  It  continues  to  run  two  or 
three  months,  and  the  Indians  draw  from  it  three  or 
four  times  a-day.  A  very  vigorous  plant  occasion- 
ally yields  the  quantity  of  454  cubic  inches  a-day  for 
four  or  five  months.  This  is  so  much  the  more  as- 
tonishing, that  the  plantations  are  usually  in  the 
most  arid  and  steril  ground.  In  a  good  soil  the 
agave  is  ready  for  being  cut  at  the  age  of  five  years; 


336  WINE — SUGAR. 

but  in  pooi  land  the  harvest  cannot  be  expected  in 
less  than  eighteen. 

This  juice  or  honey  has  an  agreeable  acid  taste,  and 
easily  ferments  on  account  of  the  sugar  and  mucilage 
which  abound  in  it.  This  process,  which  is  accele- 
rated by  adding  a  little  old  pulque,  ends  in  three  or 
four  days ;  and  the  result  is  a  liquor  resembling 
cider,  but  with  a  very  unpleasant  smell,  like  that  of 
putrid  meat.  Europeans  who  can  reconcile  them- 
selves to  the  scent,  prefer  the  pulque  to  every  other 
liquor,  and  it  is  considered  as  stomachic,  invigor- 
ating, and  nutritive.  A  very  intoxicating  brandy, 
called  mexical,  is  also  obtained  from  it,  and  in  some 
districts  is  manufactured  to  a  great  extent. 

The  leaves  of  the  agave  also  supply  the  place  of 
hemp  and  the  papyrus  of  the  Egyptians.  The  paper 
on  which  the  ancient  Mexicans  painted  their  hiero- 
glyphical  figures  was  made  of  their  fibres,  macerated 
and  disposed  in  layers.  The  prickles  which  termi- 
nate them  formerly  served  as  pins  and  nails  to  the 
Indians,  and  the  priests  pierced  their  arms  and  breasts 
with  them  in  their  acts  of  expiation. 

The  vine  is  cultivated  in  Mexico,  but  in  so  small 
a  quantity  that  wine  can  hardly  be  considered  as  a 
product  of  that  country ;  but  the  mountainous  parts 
of  New-Spain,  Guatimala,  New-Grenada,  and  Ca- 
raccas  are  so  well  adapted  for  its  growth,  that  at 
some  future  period  they  will  probably  supply  the 
whole  of  North  America. 

Of  colonial  commodities,  or  productions  which 
furnish  raw  materials  for  the  commerce  and  manu- 
facturing industry  of  Europe,  New-Spain  affords 
most  of  those  procured  from  the  West  Indies.  The 
cultivation  of  the  sugar-cane  has  of  late  years  been 
carried  to  such  an  extent,  that  the  exportation  of 
sugar  from  Vera  Cruz  amounts  to  more  than  half  a 
million  of  arrobas,  or  12,680,000  Ib.  avoird. ;  which, 
at  3  piastres  the  arroba,  are  equal  to  5,925,000  francs, 
or  246,875/.  sterling.  It  was  conveyed  by  the  Span- 


COLONIAL    COMMODITIES.  337 

iards  from  the  Canary  Islands  into  St.  Domingo,  from 
whence  it  was  subsequently  carried  into  Cuba 'and 
the  province  just  named.  Although  the  mean  tem- 
perature best  suited  to  it  is  75°  or  77°,  it  may  yet  be 
successfully  reared  in  places  of  which  the  annual 
warmth  does  not  exceed  66°  or  68°  ;  and  as  on  great 
table-lands  the  heat  is  increased  by  the  reverbera- 
tion of  the  earth,  it  is  cultivated  in  Mexico  to  the 
height  of  4921  feet,  and  in  favourable  exposures 
thrives  even  at  an  elevation  of  6562.  The  greatest 
part  of  the  sugar  produced  in  New- Spain  is  con- 
sumed in  the  country,  and  the  exportation  is  very 
insignificant  compared  with  that  of  Cuba,  Jamaica, 
or  St.  Domingo. 

Cotton,  flax,  and  hemp  are  not  extensively  raised, 
and  very  little  coffee  is  used  in  the  country.  Cocoa, 
vanilla,  jalap,  and  tobacco  are  cultivated ;  but  of  the 
latter  there  is  a  considerable  importation  from  Ha- 
vana. Indigo  is  not  produced  in  sufficient  quantity 
for  home  consumption. 

Since  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  oxen, 
horses,  sheep,  and  hogs,  introduced  by  the  con- 
querors, have  multiplied  surprisingly  in  all  parts  of 
New-Spain,  and  more  especially  in  the  vast  savannas 
of  the  provincias  internets.  The  exportation  of  hides 
is  considerable,  as  is  that  of  horses  and  mules. 

Our  common  poultry  have  only  of  late  years  begun 
to  thrive  in  Mexico ;  but  there  is  a  great  variety  of 
native  gallinaceous  birds  in  that  country,  such  as  the 
turkey,  the  hocco  or  curassow  (Crax  nigra,  C.globice- 
ra,  C.^mm),penelopes,  and  pheasants.  The  Guinea- 
fowl  and  common  duck  are  also  reared;  but  the 
goose  is  nowhere  to  be  seen  in  the  Spanish  colonies. 

The  cultivation  of  the  silkworm  has  never  been 
extensively  tried,  although  many  parts  of  that  con- 
tinent seem  favourable  to  it.  An  enormous  quantity 
of  wax  is  consumed  in  the  festivals  of  the  church; 
and  notwithstanding  that  a  large  proportion  is  col- 
lected in  the  country,  much  is  imported  from  Ha- 
Ff 


338    METALS  OF  THE  ANCIENT  MEXICANS. 

vana.      Cochineal  is    obtained  to   a   considerable 
amount. 

Although  pearls  were  formerly  found  in  great 
abundance  in  various  parts  of  America,  the  fisheries 
have  now  almost  entirely  ceased.  The  western 
coast  of  Mexico  abounds  in  cachalots  or  spermaceti 
whales  (Physeter  macrocephalus) ;  but  the  natives 
have  hitherto  left  the  pursuit  of  these  animals  to 
Europeans. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Mines  of  New- Spain. 

Milling  Districts — Metalliferous  Veins  and  Beds — Geological  Relations 
of  the  Ores— Produce  of  the  Mines— Recapitulation. 

THE  mines  of  Mexico  have  of  late  years  engaged 
the  attention  and  excited  the  enterprise  of  the  Eng- 
lish in  ja  more  than  ordinary  degree.  The  subject 
is  therefore  one  of  much  interest ;  but  as  later  in- 
formation may  be  obtained  in  several  works,  and  es- 
pecially in  Ward's  "  Mexico  in  1827,"  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  follow  our  author  in  all  his  details. 

Long  before  the  voyage  of  Columbus,  the  natives 
of  Mexico  were  acquainted  with  the  uses  of  several 
metals,  and  had  made  considerable  proficiency  in  the 
various  operations  necessary  for  obtaining  them  in 
a  pure  state.  Cortes,  in  .the  historical  account  of 
his  expedition,  states  that  gold,  silver,  copper,  lead, 
and  tin  were  publicly  sold  in  the  great  market  of 
Tenochtitlan.  In  all  the  large  towns  of  Anahuac 
gold  and  silver  vessels  were  manufactured ;  and  the 
foreigners,  on  their  first  advance  to  Tenochtitlan, 
could  not  refrain  from  admiring  the  ingenuity  of  the 
Mexican  goldsmiths.  The  Aztec  tribes  extracted 


MINING   DISTRICTS.  339 

lead  and  tin  from  the  veins  of  Tlacheo,  and  obtained 
cinnabar  from  the  mines  of  Chilapan.  From  copper 
found  in  the  mountains  of  Zacotollan  and  Cohuixico 
they  manufactured  their  arms,  axes,  chisels,  and 
other  implements.  With  the  use  of  iron  they  seem 
to  have  been  unacquainted ;  but  they  contrived  to 
give  the  requisite  hardness  to  their  tools  by  mixing 
a  portion  of  tin  with  the  copper  of  which  they  were 
composed. 

At  the  period  when  Humboldt  visited  New-Spain, 
it  contained  nearly  500  places  celebrated  for  the  me- 
tallic treasures  in  their  vicinity,  and  comprehending 
nearly  3000  mines.  These  were  divided  into  37  dis- 
tricts, under  the  direction  of  an  equal  number  of 
councils  (Diputaciones  de  mineria),  as  follows  : — 

I.  Intendancy  of  Guanajuato, 

1.  Mining  District  ofGuanaxuato. 

H.  Intendancy  of  Zacatecas. 

2.  Zacatecas,  I    4.  Fresnillo, 

3.  Sombrerete,  |    5.  Sierra  de  Finos. 

III.  Intendancy  of  San  Luis  Potosi. 


6.  Catorce, 

7.  Potosi, 


9.  Ojocaliente, 
10.  San  Nicolas  deCroix. 


8.  Charcas, 

IV.  Intendancy  of  Mexico. 

11.  Pachuca,  I  15.  Zacualpan, 

12.  El  Doctor,  |  16.  Sultepec, 

13.  Zuriapan.  I  17.  Temastaltepec. 

14.  Tasco,  I 

V.  Intendancy  of  Guadalaxara. 

18.  Bolanos,  |  20.  Hostotipaquillo. 

19.  Asientos  de  Ibarra, 

VI.  Intendancy  of  Durango. 


21.  Chihuahua, 

22.  Parral, 

23.  Guarisamey,' 

26.  Alamos, 

27.  Copala, 

28.  Cosala, 

29.  San  Francisco  Xavier  de  la 


24.  Cosiguiriachi, 

25.  Batopilas. 


VII.  Intendancy  of  Sonora. 


Huerta, 

VIII.  Intendancy  of  Valladolid. 

33.  Angangueo,  I  35.  Zitaquaro, 

34.  Inguaran,  36.  Tlalpajahua. 


30.  Guadalupede  laPuerta, 

31.  Santissima  Trinidad  de  Pena 

Blanca, 

32.  San  Francisco  Xavier  deAlisos. 


340  METALLIFEROUS    DEPOSITES. 

IX.  Intendancy  of  Oaxaca. 

37.  Oaxaca. 
X.  Intendancy  ofPuebla. 

Several  Mines. 
XI.  Intendancy  of  Ver a  Cruz. 

Three  Mines. 

XII.  Old  California. 

One  Mine. 

In  the  present  state  of  the  country  the  veins  are 
the  most  productive,  and  the  minerals  disposed  in  beds 
or  masses  are  very  rare.  The  former  are  chiefly 
in  primitive  or  transition  rocks,  rarely  in  second- 
ary deposites.  In  the  old  continent,  granite,  gneiss, 
and  mica-slate  form  the  central  ridges  of  the  moun- 
tain-chains ;  but  in  the  cordilleras  of  America  these 
rocks  seldom  appear  externally,  being  covered  by 
masses  of  porphyry,  greenstone,  amygdaloid,  basalt, 
and  other  trap-formations.  The  coast  of  Acapulco 
is  composed  of  granite  ;  and  as  we  ascend  towards 
the  table-land  of  Mexico,  we  see  it  pierce  the  por- 
phyry for  the  last  time  between  Zumpango  and  So- 
pilote.  Farther  to  the  east,  in  the  province  of  Oa- 
xaca, granite  and  gneiss  are  visible  in  the  high  plains 
which  are  of  great  extent,  traversed  by  veins  of 
gold. 

Tin  has  not  yet  been  observed  in  the  granites  of 
Mexico.  In  the  mines  of  Comarya  syenite  contains 
a  seam  of  silver  ;  while  the  vein  of  Guanaxuato,  the 
richest  in  America,  crosses  a  primitive  clay-slate 
passing  into  talc-slate.  The  porphyries  of  Mexico 
are  for  the  most  part  eminently  rich  in  gold  and 
silver.  They  are  all  characterized  by  the  presence 
of  hornblende  and  the  absence  of  quartz.  Common 
felspar  is  of  rare  occurrence,  but  the  glassy  variety 
is  frequently  observed  in  them.  The  rich  gold  mine 
of  Villalpando,  near  Guanaxuato,  traverses  a  por- 
phyry, of  which  the  basis  is  allied  to  clinkstone,  and 
in  which  hornblende  is  extremely  rare.  The  veins 
of  Zuriapan  intersect  porphyries,  having  a  green- 
stone basis,  and  contain  a  great  variety  of  interest- 


MINES   OF   MEXICO.  341 

ing  minerals,  such  as  fibrous  zeolite,  stilbite,  gram- 
matite,  pycnite,  native  sulphur,  fluor,  barytes,  corky 
asbestus,  green  garnets,  carbonate  and  chromate  of 
lead,  orpiment,  chrysoprase,  and  fire-opal. 

Among  the  transition  rocks,  containing  ores  of 
silver,  may  be  mentioned  the  limestone  of  the  Real 
del  Cardonal,  Xacala,  and  Lomo-  del  Toro,  to  the 
north  of  Zuriapan.  In  Mexico  graywacke  is  also 
rich  in  metals. 

The  silver-mines  of  the  Real  de  Catorce,  as  well 
as  those  of  El  Doctor  and  Xaschi,  near  Zuriapan  trav- 
erse alpine  limestone,  which  rests  on  a  conglome- 
rate with  siliceous  cement.  In  that  and  the  Jura 
limestone  are  contained  the  celebrated  silver-mines 
of  Tasco  and  Tehuilotepec,  in  the  intendancy  of 
Mexico ;  and  in  these  calcareous  rocks  the  metalli- 
ferous veins  display  the  greatest  wealth. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  cordilleras  of  Mexico  con- 
tain veins  in  a  great  variety  of  rocks,  and  that  the 
deposites  which  furnish  almost  all  the  silver  exported 
from  Vera  Cruz  are  primitive  slate,  graywacke,  and 
alpine  limestone.  The  mines  of  Potosi,  in  Buenos 
Ayres,  are  contained  in  primitive  clay-slate,  and  the 
richest  of  those  of  Peru  in  alpine  limestone.  Our 
author  here  observes,  that  there  is  scarcely  a  variety 
of  rock  which  has  not  in  some  country  been  found 
to  contain  metals,  and  that  the  richness  of  the  veins 
is  for  the  most  part  totally  independent  of  the  nature 
of  the  beds  which  they  intersect. 

Great  advantage  is  derived  in  working  the  Mexi- 
can mines,  from  the  circumstance  that  the  most  im- 
portant of  them  are  situated  in  temperate  regions 
where  the  climate  is  favourable  to  agriculture.  Gua- 
naxuato  is  placed  in  a  ravine,  the  bottom  of  which 
is  somewhat  lower  than  the  level  of  the  lakes  of  the 
valley  of  Mexico.  Zacatecas  and  the  Real  de  Ca- 
torce are  a  little  higher ;  but  the  mildness  of  the 
air  at  these  towns,  which  are  surrounded  by  the 
richest  mines  in  the  world,  is  a  contrast  to  the  cold 
Ff  2 


342  PRODUCE    OF    SILVER. 

and  disagreeable  atmosphere  of  the  Peruvian  dis- 
tricts. 

The  produce  of  the  Mexican  mines  is  very 
unequally  apportioned.  The  2,500,000  marks,  or 
1,541,015  troy  pounds  of  silver  annually  exported 
to  Europe  and  Asia  from  Vera  Cruz  and  Acapulco, 
are  drawn  from  a  very  small  number.  Guanaxuato, 
Zacatecas,  and  Catorce  supply  more  than  the  half; 
and  the  vein  of  Guanaxuato  alone  yields  more  than 
a  fourth  part  of  the  whole  silver  of  Mexico,  and  a 
sixth  of  the  produce  of  all  America.  The  following" 
is  the  order  in  which  the  richest  mines  of  New-Spain 
are  placed,  with  reference  to  the  quantity  obtained 
from  them : — 

Guanaxuato,  in  the  intendancy  of  the  same  name. 
Catorce,  in  the  intendancy  of  San  Luis  Potosi. 
Zacatecas,  in  the  intendancy  of  the  same  name. 
Real  del  Monte,  in  the  intendancy  of  Mexico. 
Bolanos,  in  the  intendancy  of  Guadalaxara. 
Guarisamey,  in  the  intendancy  of  Durango. 
Sombrerete,  in  the  intendancy  of  Zacatecas. 
Tasco,  in  the  intendancy  of  Mexico. 
Batopilas,  in  the  intendancy  of  Durango. 
Zuriapan,  in  the  intendaney  of  Mexico. 
Fresnillo,  in  the  intendancy  of  Zacatecas. 
Ramos,  in  the  intendancy  of  San  Luis  Potosi. 
Parral,  in  the  intendancy  of  Durango. 

The  veins  of  Tasco,  Sultepec,  Tlapujahua,  and 
Pachuca  were  first  wrought  by  the  Spaniards. 
Those  of  Zacatecas  w^ere  next  commenced,  and  that 
of  San  Barnabe  was  begun  in  1548.  The  principal 
one  in  Guanaxuato  was  discovered  in  1558.  As  the 
total  produce  of  all  in  Mexico,  until  the  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  never  exceeded  369,844  troy 
pounds  of  gold  and  silver  yearly,  it  must  be  con- 
cluded that  during  the  sixteenth  little  energy  was 
employed  in  drawing  forth  their  stores. 

The  silver  extracted  in  the  thirty-seven  districts 
was  deposited  in  the  provincial  treasuries  established 
in  the  chief  places  of  the  intendancies  ;  and  from 
the  reports  of  these  offices  the  quantity  furnished 


PRODUCE    OF    GOLD.  343 

by  the  different  parts  of  the  country  may  be  deter- 
mined. The  following  is  an  account  of  the  receipts 
of  eleven  of  these  boards  from  the  year  1785  to 
1789:— 

Marks  of  Silver. 

Guanaxuato ,  2,469,000 

San  Luis  Potosi 1 ,515,000 

Zacatecas 1,205,000 

Mexico  1,055.000 

Durango 922,000 

Rosario 668,000 

Guadalaxara 509,000 

Pachuca 455,000 

Bolanos 364,000 

Sombrerete 320,000 

Zuriapan 248,000 

Sum  for  five  years..  .9,730,000=5,997,633  troy  pounds. 

The  mean  produce  of  the  mines  of  New-Spain, 
including  the  northern  part  of  New-Biscay  and  those 
of  Oaxaca,  is  estimated  at  above  1,541,015  troy 
pounds  of  silver, — a  quantity  equal  to  two-thirds  of 
what  is  annually  extracted  from  the  whole  globe, 
and  ten  times  as  much  as  is  furnished  by  all  the 
mines  of  Europe. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  produce  of  the  Mexican 
mines  in  gold  is  not  much  greater  than  those  of 
Hungary  and  Transylvania  ;  amounting  in  ordinary 
years  only  to  4315  troy  pounds.  In  the  former  it  is 
chiefly  extracted  from  river-deposites  by  washing. 
Auriferous  alluvia  are  common  in  the  province  of 
Sonora,  and  a  great  deal  of  gold  has  been  collected 
among  the  sands  with  which  the  bottom  of  the  val- 
ley of  the  Rio  Hiaqui,  to  the  east  of  the  missions 
of  Tarahumara,  is  covered.  Farther  to  the  north, 
in  Pimeria  Alta,  masses  of  native  gold  weighing  five 
or  six  pounds  have  been  found.  Part  of  it  is  also 
extracted  from  veins  intersecting  the  primitive 
mountains.  Veins  of  this  metal  are  most  frequent 
in  the  province  of  Oaxaca,  in  gneiss  and  mica-slate. 
The  last  rock  is  particularly  rich  in  the  mines  of 
Rio  San  Antonio.  Gold  is  also  found  pure,  or 


344  GOLD    AND    SILVER    OF    AMERICA. 

mixed  with  silver-ore,  in  most  of  those  which  have 
been  wrought  in  Mexico. 

The  silver  supplied  by  the  Mexican  veins  is  ex- 
tracted from  a  great  variety  of  minerals.  Most  of  it 
is  obtained  from  sulphuretted  silver,  arsenical  gray- 
copper,  muriate  of  silver,  prismatic  black  silver-ore, 
•md  red  silver-ore.  Pure  or  native  silver  is  of  com- 
paratively rare  occurrence. 

Copper,  tin,  iron,  lead,  and  mercury  are  also  pro- 
cured in  New^Spain,  but  in  very  small  quantities, 
although  it  would  appear  that  they  might  be  found 
to  a  great  extent.  The  mercury  occurs  in  various 
deposites,  in  beds,  in  secondary  formations,  and  in 
veins  traversing  porphyries ;  but  the  amount  ob- 
tained has  never  been  sufficient  for  the  process  of 
amalgamation. 

The  total  value  of  gold  and  silver  extracted  from 
the  mines  of  America,  between  1499  and  1803,  is 
estimated  by  Humboldt  at  5,706,700,000  piasters,  or 
(valuingthe  piaster  at  4s.  4W.)1,248,340,625Z.  sterling. 

The  annual  produce  oif  the  mines  of  the  New 
World,  at  the  -beginning  of  the  present  century,  is 
estimated  as  follows  : — 

Gold  Silver  Value  in 

Marks.  Marks.  Dollars. 

New-Spain 7,000  2,338,220  23,000,000 

Peru 3,400  611,090  6,240,000 

Chili 12,212  20,700  2,060,000 

Buenos  Ay  res 2,200  481,830  4,850,000 

New-Grenada 20,505  .     .     .  2,990,000 

Brazil 29,900  .     .    .  4,360,000 

75,217        3,460,840        43,500,000 

Valuing  the  dollar  at  4s.  3d.,  the  total  annual  produce 
would  be  9,243,750/.* 

*  According  to  Mr.  Ward  (Mexico  in  1827,  vol.  ii.  p.  38),  the  annual 
average  produce  of  the  Mexican  mines,  before  the  revolution  in  1810, 
amounted  to  24.000.000  dollars,  or  5,250,000/.,  and  the  average  exports  to 
22,000,000,  or  4,812.500Z  ;  but  since  the  revolution  the  produce  has  been 
reduced  to  11,000,000  dollars,  or  2,406,250/.,  while  the  exports  in  specie 
have  averaged  13,537,052  dollars,  or  2,970, 198Z.  each  year.  This  reduc- 
tion, it  is  unnecessary  to  say,  has  been  caused  by  the"  unsettled  state  of 


RECAPITULATION.  345 

To  conclude  our  brief  account  of  Humboldt's  Po- 
litical Essay  on  New-Spain,  it  may  be  useful  to  pre- 
sent a  few  of  the  more  interesting  facts  in  the  form 
of  a  recapitulation. 

Physical  Aspect. — Along  the  centre  of  the  coun- 
try runs  a  chain  of  mountains,  having  a  direction 
from  south-east  to  north-west,  and  afterward  from 
south  to  north.  On  the  ridge  or  summit  of  this 
chain  are  extended  vast  table-lands  or  platforms, 
which  gradually  decline  towards  the  temperate  zone, 
their  absolute  height  within  the  tropics  being  from 
7545  to  7873  feet.  The  declivities  of  the  cordilleras 
are  wooded,  while  the  central  table-land  is  usually 

the  country,  the  emigration  of  the  old  Spaniards,  and  the  withdrawing 
of  the  funds  which  kept  the  mines  in  operation.  In  1812,  according  to 
the  same  authority,  the  coinage  had  fallen  to  four  and  a  half  millions  of 
dollars.  It  rose  successively  to  six,  nine,  eleven,  and  twelve  millions, 
which  was  the  amount  in  1819  in  the  capital  alone.  In  1820  the  revolu- 
tion in  Spain  caused  a  considerable  fluctuation,  and  the  coinage  fell  to 
10,406,164  dollars.  In  1821,  when  the  separation  from  the  mother- 
country  became  inevitable,  the  coinage  sank  to  five  millions  ;  from  which 
it  fell  to  three  and  a  half,  and  continued  in  that  state  during  1823  and 
1824.  In  1825  the  foreign  capitals  invested  began  to  produce  some  effect ; 
but  in  1826  the  total  amount  of  coinage  in  the  five  mints  of  the  Mexican 
republic  did  not  exceed  7,463,300  dollars,  or  1,632,594/. 

In  1827,  seven  English  companies,  one  German,  and  two  American 
were  employed  in  working  mines  in  different  parts  of  Mexico. 

ENGLISH    COMPANIES. 

1.  The  Real  del  Monte  Company,  Captain  Vetch  director,  with  an  in- 
vested capital  of  400,OOOZ. 

2.  The  Bolanos  Company,  Captains  Vetch  and  Lyon  directors,  with  a 
capital  of  150,OOOZ. 

3.  Tlalpujahua  Company,  Mr.  De  Rivafinola  director,  with  a  capital 
of!80,000/. 

4.  Anglo-Mexican    Company,    Mr.  Williamson   director :    capital 
800,000*. 

5.  United  Mexican  Company ;   directors,  Don  Lucas  Alaman,  Mr. 
Glennie,  and  Mr.  Agassis ;  capital  800,OOOJ. 

6.  The  Mexican  Company. 

7.  Catorce  Company,  Mr.  Stokes  director :  invested  capital  not  above 
60,<XHM. 

At  this  period  nearly  three  millions  sterling  of  British  capital  were 
invested  in  the  Mexican  mines,  or  had  been  expended  in  enterprises  im- 
mediately connected  with  them.  The  sudden  change  of  feeling  with 
respect  to  these  adventures  which  took  place  in  England  in  1826  had 
nearly  put  a  stop  to  the  operations  commenced  with  so  much  energy ; 
but  confidence  having  been  in  some  measure  restored,  it  may  be  hoped 
that  the  mining  companies  will  yet  prove  of  great  advantage  both  to 
Britain  and  to  Mexico. 


346  RECAPITULATION. 

bare.  In  the  equinoctial  region  the  different  climates 
rise,  as  it  were,  one  above  another  from  the  shore, 
where  the  mean  temperature  is  about  78°,  to  the 
central  plains,  where  it  is  about  62°. 

Population. — The  whole  population  is  estimated 
at  5,840,000,  of  which  4,500,000  are  Indians,  1,000,000 
Creoles,  and  70,000  European  Spaniards. 

Agriculture. — The  banana,  manioc,  maize,  wheat, 
and  potatoes  constitute  the  principal  food  of  the 
people.  The  maguey  or  agave  may  be  considered 
as  the  Indian  vine.  Sugar,  cotton,  vanilla,  cocoa, 
indigo,  tobacco,  wax,  and  cochineal  are  plentifully 
produced.  Cattle  are  abundant  on  the  great  savannas 
in  the  interior. 

Mines. — The  annual  produce  in  gold  is  4289  Ib. 
troy;  in  silver,  1, 439,832 Ib. ;  in  all,  23,000,000  of 
piasters  (5,031,2507.),  or  nearly  half  the  quantity 
annually  extracted  from  the  r^nes  of  America. 
The  mint  of  Mexico  furnished  trom  1690  to  1803 
more  than  1,353,000,000  piasters  (295,968,7507.), 
and  from  the  discovery  of  New-Spain  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  nineteenth  century,  probably 
2,028,000,000  piasters  (443,625,0007.).  Three  mining 
districts,  Guanaxuato,  Zacatecas,  and  Catorce,  yield 
nearly  half  of  all  the  gold  and  silver  of  New- Spain. 

Manufactures. — The  value  of  the  produce  of  the 
manufacturing  industry  of  New-Spain  is  estimated 
at  7,000,000  or  8,000,000  of  piasters  (valuing  the 
piaster  of  exchange  at  3s.  3^7.,  1,152,0837.  to 
1,316,6677.).  Cotton  and  woollen  cloths,  cigars, 
soda,  soap,  gunpowder,  and  leather  are  the  principal 
articles  manufactured. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add,  that  the  regions 
of  America,  which  at  the  time  of  Humboldt's  visit 
were  Spanish  colonies,  have,  after  a  series  of  san- 
guinary struggles,  excited  by  the  real  or  imagined 
grievances  under  which  the  inhabitants  laboured, 
now  succeeded  in  acquiring  independence.  This  con- 
dition is  more  suitable  than  subjection  to  a  remote 


RETURN   TO    EUROPE.  347 

power,  protracted  beyond  the  period  at  which  such 
settlements  are  themselves  fit  to  become  empires. 
With  colonies  it  is  in  some  degree  as  with  children. 
They  receive  the  protection  necessary  for  their 
growth,  and  obey  at  first  from  weakness  and  at- 
tachment ;  but  beyond  the  stage  at  which  they  ac- 
quire a  right  to  think  for  themselves,  the  attempt  to 
perpetuate  subordination  necessarily  excites  a  hatred 
which  effectually  quenches  the  feeble  gratitude  that 
man,  in  any  condition,  is  capable  of  cherishing.  The 
political  divisions  of  America, — the  land  of  republi- 
can principles, — are  foreign  to  our  object,  and  would 
require  a  more  particular  description  than  they 
could  receive  in  this  volume. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Passage  from  Vera  Cruz  to  Cuba  and  Philadelphia, 
and  Voyage  to  Europe. 

Departure  from  Mexico — Passage  to  Havana  and  Philadelphia — Return 
to  Europe— Results  of  the  Journeys  in  America. 

LEAVING  the  capital  of  New-Spain,  our  travellers 
descended  to  the  port  of  Vera  Cruz,  which  is  situ- 
ated among  sand-hills,  in  a  burning  and  unhealthy 
climate.  They  happily  escaped  the  yellow-fever, — 
which  prevails  there,  and  attacks  persons  who  have 
arrived  from  the  elevated  districts  as  readily  as  Eu- 
ropeans who  have  come  by  sea, — and  embarked  in  a 
Spanish  frigate  for  Havana,  where  they  had  left 
part  of  their  specimens.  They  remained  there  two 
months ;  after  which  they  set  sail  for  the  United 
States,  on  their  passage  to  which  they  encountered 
a  violent  storm  that  lasted  seven  days.  Arriving 
at  Philadelphia,  and  afterward  visiting  Washington, 


348       RESULTS  OF  THE  JOURNEYS 

they  spent  eight  weeks  in  that  interesting-  country, 
for  the  purpose  of  studying  its  political  constitution 
and  commercial  relations.  In  August,  1804,  they 
returned  to  Europe,  carrying  with  them  the  exten- 
sive collections  which  they  had  made  during  their 
perilous  and  fatiguing  journeys. 

The  results  of  this  expedition,  conducted  with  so 
much  courage  and  zeal,  have  been  of  the  highest 
importance  to  science.  With  respect  to  natural  his- 
tory, it  may  be  stated  generally,  that  the  mass  of  in- 
formation already  laid  before  the  public,  as  obtained 
from  the  observation  of  six  years,  exceeds  any  thing 
that  had  been  presented  by  the  most  successful  cul- 
tivators of  the  same  field  during  a  whole  lifetime. 
Much  light  has  been  thrown  on  the  migrations  and 
relations  of  the  indigenous  tribes  of  America,  their 
origin,  languages,  and  manners.  The  Vues  des  Cor- 
dillieres  et  Monumens  des  Peuples  indigenes  de  PAme- 
rique,  2  vols.  folio,  published  in  1811,  contains  the 
fruit  of  researches  into  the  antiquities  of  Mexico 
and  Peru,  together  with  the  description  of  the  more 
remarkable  scenes  of  the  Andes.  It  has  been  trans- 
lated into  English  by  Mrs.  H.  M.  Williams.  The 
animals  observed  have  been  described  in  a  work  en- 
titled Recueil  d"1  Observations  de  Zoologieetd'Anatomie 
Comparees,  faites  dans  un  Voyage  aux  Tropiques,  2 
vols.  4to. 

In  the  department  of  botany  the  most  important 
additions  have  been  made  to  science.  Our  travel- 
lers brought  with  them  to  Europe  an  herbarium  con- 
sisting of  more  than  6000  species  of  plants,  and 
Bonpland's  botanical  journal  contained  descriptions 
of  four  thousand.  The  valuable  works  on  this  sub- 
ject that  have  appeared  in  consequence  of  the  jour- 
ney to  America  form  a  new  era  in  the  history  of 
botany.  They  are  as  follow  : — 

1.  Essai  sur  la  Geographic  des  Plantes,  ou  fableau 
Physique  des  Regions  Equinoxiales,  fonde  sur  des  Ob- 
servations et  des  Mesures  faites  depuis  le  Wme  degre 


IN   AMERICA.  349 

de  latitude   australe,  juscfau  Wme   degre  de  latitude 
boreale.     4to. 

2.  Plantes  Equinoxiales  Recueillies  au  Mexique,  dans 
rile  de  Cuba,  dans  les  Provinces  de  Caracas,  de  Cu- 
mana,  &c.     2  vols.  fol. 

3.  Monographic  des  Melastomes.     2  vols.  fol. 

4.  Nova  Genera  et  Species  Plantarum.  3  vols.  fol. 

5.  De  Distributione  Geographica  Plantarum  secun- 
dum  Cceli  Temperiem  et  Altitudinem  Montium  prolego- 
mena.    8vo. 

The  Essay  on  the  Geography  of  Plants  presents  a 
general  view  of  the  vegetation,  zoology,  geological 
constitution,  and  other  circumstances,  of  the  equi- 
noctial region  of  the  New  Continent,  from  the  level 
of  the  sea  to  the  highest  summits  of  the  Andes. 
The  second  work  is  by  M.  Bonpland,  and  contains 
methodical  descriptions,  in  Latin  and  French,  of  the 
species  observed;  together  with  remarks  on  their 
medicinal  properties  and  their  uses  in  the  arts.  The 
Monography  of  the  Melastomae,  which  is  also  from 
the  pen  of  M.  Bonpland,  contains  upwards  of  150 
species  of  these  plants,  with  others  collected  by  M. 
Richard  in  the  West  Indies  and  French  Guiana. 

In  his  Essai  Geognostique  sur  le  Gisement  des  Roches 
dans  les  deux  Hemispheres,  published  in  1826,  and 
translated  into  English,  Humboldt  presents  a  table 
of  all  the  formations  known  to  geologists,  and  insti- 
tutes a  comparison  between  the  rocks  of  the  Old 
Continent  and  those  of  the  cordillera  of  the  Andes. 

The  astronomical  treatises  have  been  published 
in  two  quarto  volumes,  under  the  title  of  Recueil 
d*  Observations  Astronomiques  et  de  Mesures  executees 
dans  le  Nouveau  Continent.  This  work  contains  the 
original  observations  made  between  the  12th  degree 
of  south  latitude  and  the  41st  degree  of  north  lati? 
tude,  transits  of  the  sun  and  stars  over  the  meridian, 
occupations  of  satellites,  eclipses,  &c. ;  a  treatise 
on  astronomical  refractions  under  the  torrid  zone, 
considered  as  the  effect  of  the  decrement  of  caloric 


350     RESULTS  OF  THE  JOURNEYS  IN  AMERICA. 

in  the  strata  of  the  atmosphere;  the  barometric 
measurement  of  the  Andes  of  Mexico,  Venezuela, 
Quito,  and  New-Grenada ;  together  with  a  table  of 
nearly  700  geographical  positions.  The  greatest 
pains  have  been  taken  to  verify  the  calculations. 
Our  author  presented  to  the  Bureau  des  Longitudes  his 
astronomical  observations  on  the  lunar  distances  and 
the  eclipses  of  Jupiter's  satellites,  together  with  the 
barometrical  elevations,  which  have  been  calculated 
and  verified  by  M.  Prony  according  to  the  formulae 
of  La  Place. 

In  1817  Humboldt  laid  before  the  Academie  des 
Sciences  his  map  of  the  Orinoco,  exhibiting  the  junc- 
tion of  that  river  with  the  Amazon  by  means  of  the 
Casiquiare  and  Rio  Negro. 

The  brief  account  of  New-Spain,  which  is  pre- 
sented in  the  preceding  pages  has  been  extracted 
from  the  Essai  Politique  sur  la  Nouvelle  Espagne, 
originally  published  in  2  vols.  4to.,  and  translated 
into  English.  With  respect  to  Humboldt's  transla- 
tors it  may  be  remarked,  that  their  want  of  scientific 
knowledge,  and  more  especially  of  natural  history, 
renders  the  English  very  much  inferior  to  the  French 
editions. 

Most  of  the  above-mentioned  publications  have 
appeared  in  the  names  of  both  travellers.  The 
various  works  relating  to  the  journey  will  make, 
when  complete,  twelve  volumes  in  quarto,  three  in 
folio,  two  collections  of  geographical  designs,  and 
one  of  picturesque  views.  The  detailed  narrative 
of  the  expedition  occupies  four  of  these  volumes; 
but  an  octavo  edition  has  also  been  published,  under 
the  title  of  Voyage  aux  Regions  Equinoxiales  du  Nou- 
veau  Continent,  pendant  les  annees  1799,  1800,  1801, 
1802,  1803,  et  1804.  The  translation  of  this  work  by 
Mrs.  Williams  is  familiar  to  the  English  reader. 

The  labour  necessary  for  reducing  the  observa- 
tions made  by  our  travellers  to  a  condition  fit  for  the 
public  eye  must  have  been  very  great ;  yet,  pos- 


BONPLAND'S  CAPTIVITY.  351 

sessed  of  a  mind  riot  less  characterized  by  activity 
than  the  vastness  of  its  acquirements,  Humboldt  in 
the  mean  while  engaged  in  various  investigations, 
which  he  has  partly  published  in  the  foreign  jour- 
nals. In  concert  with  M.  Gay  Lussac,  with  whom 
he  lived  for  several  years  in  the  most  intimate 
friendship,  he  has  made  numerous  magnetic  experi- 
ments, and  verified  Biot's  theory  respecting  the  po- 
sition of  the  magnetic  equator.  They  have  found 
that  the  great  mountain-chains,  and  even  the  active 
volcanoes,  have  no  appreciable  influence  on  the  mag- 
netic power ;  and  have  established  the  fact,  that  it 
gradually  diminishes  as  we  recede  from  the  equator. 

On  the  return  of  the  philosophers  from  America, 
Bonpland  was  appointed  by  Bonaparte  to  the  office 
of  superintending  the  gardens  at  Malmaison,  where 
the  Empress  Josephine,  who  was  passionately  fond 
of  flowers,  had  formed  a  splendid  collection  of  ex- 
otics. His  amiable  disposition,  not  less  than  his  ac- 
quirements, procured  for  him  the  esteem  of  all  who 
knew  him.  In  1818  he  went  to  Buenos  Ayres  as 
professor  of  natural  history.  In  1820  he  under- 
took an  excursion  to  the  interior  of  Paraguay ;  but 
when  he  arrived  at  St.  Anne,  on  the  eastern  bank  of 
the  Parana,  where  he  had  established  a  colony  of  In- 
dians, he  was  unexpectedly  surrounded  by  a  large 
body  of  soldiers,  who  destroyed  the  plantation  and 
carried  him  off  a  prisoner.  This  was  done  by  the 
orders  of  Dr.  Francia,  the  ruler  of  Paraguay ;  and 
the  only  reason  assigned  was  his  having  planted  the 
tea-tree  peculiar  to  that  country,  and  which  forms  a 
valuable  article  of  exportation.  He  was  confined 
chiefly  in  Santa  Martha,  but  was  allowed  to  practise 
as  a  physician.  Humboldt  applied  in  vain  for  the 
liberation  of  his  friend,  for  whom  he  appears  to  have 
cherished  a  sincere  affection.  According  to  a  late 
report,  however,  he  has  obtained  his  liberty,  and  re- 
turned to  Buenos  Ayres. 

In  October,  1818,  our  author  was  in  London, 


352  ASIATIC    JOURNEY. 

where  it  was  said  that  the  allied  powers  had  re- 
quested him  to  draw  up  a  political  view  of  the  South 
American  colonies.  In  November  of  the  same  year 
the  King-  of  Prussia  granted  him  an  annual  pension 
of  12,000  dollars,  with  the  view  of  facilitating  the 
execution  of  a  plan  which  he  had  formed  of  visiting 
Asia,  and  especially  the  mountains  of  Thibet.  In 
the  year  1822  he  accompanied  his  majesty  to  the 
congress  of  Verona,  and  afterward  visited  Venice, 
Rome,  and  Naples  ;  and,  in  1827  and  1828,  delivered 
at  Berlin  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  physical  con- 
stitution of  the  globe,  which  was  attended  by  the 
royal  family  and  the  court.  But,  excepting  the  re- 
sults of  his  investigations,  which  have  appeared  at 
intervals,  we  have  no  particular  account  of  his  occu- 
pations until  1829,  when  he  undertook  another  im- 
portant journey  to  the  Uralian  Mountains,  the  fron- 
tiers of  China,  and  the  Caspian  Sea. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Journey  to  Asia. 

Brief  Account  of  Humboldt's  Journey  to  Asia,  with  a  Sketch  of  the  Four 
great  Chains  of  Mountains  which  intersect  the  Central  Part  of  that 
Continent. 

No  detailed  narrative  has  yet  been  published  of 
Humboldt's  journey  to  Asiatic  Russia  ;  and  the  only 
sources  of  authentic  information  on  the  subject  are 
to  be  found  in  a  work  lately  printed  at  Paris,  under 
the  title  of  Fragmens  de  Geologie  et  de  Climatologie 
Asiatiques,  par  A.  de  Humboldt,  from  which  the  fol- 
lowing particulars  are  extracted  : — 

This  illustrious  traveller,  accompanied  by  MM. 
Ehrenberg  and  Gustavus  Rose,  embarked  at  Nijnei- 


ASIATIC    JOURNEY.  353 

Novgorod  on  the  Volga,  and  descended  to  Kasan  and 
the  Tartar  ruins  of  Bolgari.  From  thence  he  went 
by  Perm  to  Jekatherinenburg  on  the  Asiatic  side  of 
the  Uralian  Mountains, — a  vast  chain  composed  of 
several  ranges  running  nearly  parallel  to  each  other, 
of  which  the  highest  summits  scarcely  attain  an  ele- 
vation of  4593  or  4920  feet,  but  which,  like  the 
Andes,  follows  the  direction  of  a  meridian,  from  the 
tertiary  deposites  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Lake 
Aral  to  the  greenstone  rocks  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Frozen  Sea.  A  month  was  occupied  in  visiting  the 
central  and  northern  parts  of  these  mountains, 
which 'abound  in  alluvial  beds,  containing  gold  and 
platina,  the  malachite  mines  of  Goumeschevskoi,  the 
great  magnetic  ridge  of  Blagodad,  and  the  celebrated 
deposites  at  Mourzinsk,  in  which  topaz  and  beryl  are 
found.  Near  Nijnei-Tagilsk,  a  country  which  may 
be  compared  to  Choco  in  South  America,  a  mass  of 
platina  weighing  about  2H  pounds  troy  has  been 
found. 

From  Jekatherinenburg  the  travellers  proceeded 
by  Tioumen  to  Tobolsk  on  the  Irtisch,  and  from 
thence  by  Tara,  a  steppe  or  desert  of  Baraba,  which 
is  dreaded  on  account  of  the  torments  caused  by 
the  multitudes  of  insjects  belonging  to  the  family 
of  Tipulce,  to  Barnaoul  on  the  banks  of  the  Ob ;  the 
picturesque  lake  of  Koly  van ;  and  the  rich  silver- 
mines  of  Schlangenberg,  Riddersk,  and  Zyrianovski, 
situated  on  the  south-western  declivity  of  the  Altaic 
range,  the  highest  summit  of  which  is  scarcely  so 
elevated  as  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe.  The  mines  of 
Kolyvan  produce  annually  upwards  of  49,842  troy 
pounds. 

Proceeding  southward  from  Riddersk  to  Oust-Ka- 
menogosk,  they  passed  through  Boukhtarminsk  to 
the  frontier  of  Chinese  Zungaria.  They  even  ot> 
tained  permission  to  cross  the  frontier,  in  order  to 
visit  the  Mongol  post  of  Bates,  or  Khonimailakhou, 
northward  of  the  Lake  Dzaisai.ig.  Returning  from 


354  ASIATIC    JOURNEY. 

this  place  to  Oust-Kamenogorsk,  they  found  the 
granite  divided  into  nearly  horizontal  beds  and  over- 
laying a  slate-formation,  the  strata  of  which  were 
partly  inclined  at  an  angle  of  85°  and  partly 
vertical. 

From  Oust-Kamenogorsk  they  went  along  the 
steppe  of  the  Middle  Horde  of  the  Kirghiz,  by  Semi- 
polatinsk  and  Onisk  and  the  lines  of  the  Ichim  Cos- 
sacks and  Tobol,  to  reach  the  southern  part  of  the 
Ural,  where,  in  the  vicinity  of  Miask,  in  a  deposite 
of  very  small  extent  and  at  a  depth  of  a  few  inches, 
were  found  three  masses  of  native  gold,  two  of 
which  weighed  18'36  and  the  other  28'36  pounds 
troy. 

They  next  proceeded  along  the  Southern  Ural  to 
the  fine  quarries  of  green  jasper  at  Orsk,  where  the 
river  Jaik  crosses  the  chain  from  east  to  west.  From 
thence  they  passed  by  Souberlinsk  to  Orenburg, 
which,  notwithstanding  its  distance  from  the  Cas- 
pian Sea,  is  below  the  level  of  the  ocean,  and  then 
visited  the  famous  salt-mine  of  Iletzki,  situated  in 
the  steppe  of  the  Little  Kirghiz  Horde.  They  after- 
ward inspected  the  principal  place  of  the  Ouralsk 
Cossacks  ;  the  German  colonies  of  the  Saratov  gov- 
ernment on  the  left  bank  of  the  Volga ;  the  great  salt- 
lake  of  Elton  in  the  steppe  of  the  Kalmucks ;  and  a 
fine  colony  of  Moravians  at  Sarepta ;  and,  finally,  ar- 
rived at  Astracan.  The  principal  objects  of  this 
excursion  to  the  Caspian  Sea  were,  the  chymical 
analysis  of  its  waters,  which  Mr.  Rose  intended  to 
make  ;  the  observation  of  the  barometrical  heights ; 
and  the  collection  of  fishes  for  the  great  work  of 
Baron  Cuvier  and  M.  Valenciennes. 

From  Astracan  the  travellers  returned  to  Moscow, 
by  the  isthmus  which  separates  the  Don  and  the 
Volga,  near  Tichinskaya,  and  the  country  of  the  Don 
Cossacks. 

Of  the  heterogeneous  materials  composing  the 
Fragmens  Aslatiques,  part  only  of  which  is  from  the 


VOLCANIC   ACTION.  355 

pen  of  Humboldt,  the  memoir  on  the  mountain- 
chains  and  volcanoes  in  the  interior  of  Asia  is  the 
only  one  which  can  add  any  interest  to  our  pages  ; 
the  rest  being  of  a  character  too  strictly  scientific. 
Of  this  paper  a  brief  account  is  here  given. 

In  our  present  state  of  knowledge  volcanic  phe- 
nomena are  not  to  be  considered  as  relating  peculiarly 
to  the  science  of  geology,  but  rather  as  a  depart- 
ment of  general  physics.  When  in  action  they 
appear  to  result  from  a  permanent  communication 
between  the  interior  of  the  globe,  which  is  in  a  state 
of  fusion,  and  the  atmosphere  which  envelopes  the 
hardened  and  oxydated  crust  of  our  planet.  Masses 
of  lava  issue  like  intermittent  springs ;  and  the  su- 
perposition of  their  layers  which  takes  place  under 
our  eyes  bears  a  resemblance  to  that  of  the  ancient 
crystalline  rocks.  On  the  crest  of  the  cordilleras  of 
the  New  World,  as  well  as  in  the  south  of  Europe 
and  the  western  parts  of  Asia,  an  intimate  connexion 
is  manifested  between  the  chymical  action  of  volca- 
noes, properly  so  called,  or  those  which  produce 
rocks, — their  form  and  position  permitting  the  escape 
of  earthy  substances  in  a  state  of  fusion, — and  the 
mud-volcanoes  of  South  America,  Italy,  and  the  Cas- 
pian Sea,  which  at  one  period  eject  fragments  of 
rocks,  flames,  and  acid  vapours,  and  at  another  vomit 
muddy  clay,  naphtha,  and  irrespirable  gases.  There 
is  even  an  obvious  relation  between  the  proper  vol- 
cano and  the  formation  of  beds  of  gypsum  and  an- 
hydrous rock-salt,  containing  petroleum,  condensed 
hydrogen,  sulphuret  of  iron,  and,  occasionally,  large 
masses  of  galena ;  the  origin  of  hot-springs  ;  the  ar- 
rangement of  metallic  deposites ;  earthquakes,  which 
are  ever  and  anon  accompanied  by  chymical  phe- 
nomena; and  the  sometimes  sudden,  and  the  some- 
times very  slow  elevations  of  certain  parts  of  the 
earth's  surface. 

This  intimate  connexion  between  these  diversified 
appearances  has  of  late  years  served  to  elucidate 


356       ,  GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS 

many  problems  in  geology  and  physics  which  had 
previously  been  considered  inexplicable.  The  analo- 
gies of  observed  facts,  and  the  strict  investigation 
of  phenomena  of  recent  occurrence,  gradually  lead 
us  to  more  probable  conjectures  as  to  the  events  of 
those  remote  periods  which  preceded  historical 
records.  Volcanicity,  or  the  influence  which  the  inte- 
rior of  our  planet  exercises  upon  its  external  envelope 
in  the  various  stages  of  its  refrigeration,  on  account 
of  the  unequal  aggregation  in  which  its  component 
substances  occur,  is,  at  the  present  day,  in  a  very 
diminished  condition ;  restricted  to  a  small  number 
of  points  ;  intermittent ;  simplified  in  its  chymical 
effects  ;  producing  rocks  only  around  small  circular 
apertures,  or  over  longitudinal  cracks  of  small  ex- 
tent ;  and  manifesting  its  power,  at  great  distances, 
only  dynamically,  by  shaking  the  crust  of  our  planet 
in  linear  directions,  or  in  spaces  which  remain  the 
same  during  a  great  number  of  ages.  Previous  to 
the  existence  of  the  human  race,  the  action  of  the 
interior  of  the  globe  upon  the  solid  crust,  which  was 
increasing  in  volume,  must  have  modified  the  tem- 
perature of  the  atmosphere,  and  rendered  the  whole 
surface  capable  of  giving  birth  to  those  productions 
which  ought  to  be  considered  as  tropical,  since,  by 
the  effect  of  the  radiation  and  refrigeration  of  the  ex- 
terior, ;the  relations  of  the  earth  to  a  central  body, 
the  sun,  began  almost  exclusively  to  determine  the 
diversity  of  geographical  latitudes. 

In  those  primeval  times,  also,  the  elastic  fluids, 
the  volcanic  powers  of  the  interior,  more  energetic 
perhaps,  and  with  more  facility  traversing  the  oxi- 
dated and  solidified  crust  of  the  globe,  filled  this  crust 
with  crevices,  and  injected  it  with  masses  and  veins 
of  basalt,  metallic  substances,  and  other  matters, 
introduced  after  the  solidification  of  the  planet  had 
been  completed.  The  period  of  the  great  geologi- 
cal revolutions  was  that  when  the  communications 
between  the  fluid  interior  of  the  planet  and  its  atmo- 


ON  VOLCANIC  ACTION.  357 

sphere  were  more  frequent,  acting  upon  a  greater 
number  of  points,  and  when  the  tendency  to  establish 
these  communications  gave  rise,  in  the  line  of  the 
long  crevices,  to  the  cordilleras  of  the  Andes  and 
Himmaleh  mountains,  the  chains  of  less  elevation, 
and  the  ridges  whose  undulations  embellish  the  land- 
scape of  our  plains.  Our  author  then  mentions,  as 
proofs  of  these  protrusions,  the  sandstone  formations 
which  extend  from  the  plains  of  the  Magdalena  and 
Meta,  almost  without  interruption,  over  platforms 
having  an  elevation  varying  from  8950  to  10,232  feet ; 
and  the  bones  of  antediluvian  animals  intermingled 
on  the  summit  of  the  Uralian  chain  of  northern  Asia 
with  transported  deposites,  containing  gold,  dia- 
monds, and  platina.  Another  evidence  of  this  sub- 
terranean action  of  elastic  fluids,  which  heave  up 
continents,  domes,  and  mountain-chains,  displace 
rocks  and  the  organic  remains  which  they  contain, 
and  produce  eminences  and  depressions,  is  the  great 
sinking  of  the  ground  which  occurs  in  the  west  of 
Asia,  of  which  the  Caspian  Sea  and  the  Lake  Aral 
form  the  lowest  part  (320  and  205  feet  beneath  the 
level  of  the  ocean),  but  which  extends  far  into  the 
interior  of  the  continent,  stretching  to  Saratov  and 
Orenburg  on  the  Jaik,  and  probably  to  the  south-east 
as  far  as  the  lower  course  of  the  Sihon  (Jaxartes)  and 
the  Amou  (the  Oxus  of  the  ancients).  This  depres- 
sion of  a  continental  mass  extending  to  more  than 
320  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ocean,  he  continues, 
has  not  hitherto  obtained  the  necessary  considera- 
tion which  its  importance  demands,  because  it  was 
not  sufficiently  known.  It  appears  to  him  to  have  an 
intimate  connexion  with  the  upheaving  of  the  Cau- 
casian Mountains,  those  of  Hindoo-kho,  and  of  the 
elevated  plain  of  Persia,  which  borders  the  Caspian 
Sea  and  the  Mavar-ul-Nahar  to  the  south ;  and,  per- 
haps, more  to  the  eastward,  with  the  elevation  of  the 
great  mass  of  land  which  is  designated  by  the  vague 
and  incorrect  name  of  the  central  plain  of  Asia. 


358  VOLCANO  IN  CENTRAL  ASIA. 

This  concavity  he  considers  as  a  crater-country, 
similar  to  the  Hipparchus,  Archimedes,  and  Ptolemy 
of  the  moon's  surface,  which  have  a  diameter  of 
more  than  100  miles,  and  which  may  be  rather  com- 
pared with  Bohemia  than  with  our  volcanic  cones 
and  craters. 

In  the  course  of  the  journey  which  Humboldt  made 
in  the  summer  of  1829  with  MM.  Ehrenberg  and  Rose, 
he  passed  in  seven  weeks  over  the  frontiers  of  Chi- 
nese Zungaria,  between  the  forts  of  Oust-Kameno- 
gorsk,  and  Boukhtarminsk,  and  Khonimailakhou  (a 
Chinese  post  to  the  north  of  the  Lake  Dzaisang),  the 
Cossack  line  of  the  Kirghiz  steppe,  and  the  shores 
of  the  Caspian  Sea.  In  the  important  commercial 
towns  of  Semipolatinsk,  Petropalauska,  Troitzkaia, 
Orenburg,  and  Astracan,  he  obtained  from  Tartars, 
Bucharians,  and  Tachkendis  information  respecting 
the  Asiatic  regions  in  the  vicinity  of  their  native 
country.  At  Orenburg,  where  cardans  of  several 
thousand  camels  annually  arrive,  an  enlightened  in- 
dividual, M.  de  Gens,  has  collected  a  mass  of  mate- 
rials of  the  highest  importance  for  the  geography  of 
Central  Asia.  Among  the  numerous  descriptions 
of  routes  communicated  by  this  person,  our  author 
found  the  following  remark  : — "  In  proceeding  from 
Semipolatinsk  to  Jerkend,  when  we  were  arrived  at 
the  Lake  Ala-koul  or  Ala-dinghiz,  a  little  to  the  north- 
east of  the  great  Lake  Balkachi,  which  receives  the 
waters  of  the  Ele,  we  saw  a  very  high  mountain 
which  formerly  vomited  fire.  Even  now  this  moun- 
tain, which  rises  in  the  lake  like  a  little  island,  oc- 
casions violent  storms,  which  incommode  the  cara- 
vans. For  this  reason  some  sheep  are  sacrificed  to 
this  old  volcano  by  those  who  pass  it." 

This  account,  which  was  obtained  from  a  Tartar 
who  travelled  at  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century,  excited  a  lively  interest  in  our  author,  more 
especially  as  it  brought  to  mind  the  burning  volca- 
noes of  the  interior  of  Asia,  made  known  through 


MOUNTAIN-CHAINS.  359 

the  researches  of  Abel  Remusat  and  Klaproth  in 
Chinese  books,  and  whose  great  distance  from  the 
sea  has  excited  so  much  surprise.  Soon  after  his 
departure  from  Petersburg  he  received  from  M.  de 
Klosterman,  imperial  director  of  police  at  Semipola- 
tinsk,  the  following  particulars,  which  were  obtained 
from  Bucharians  and  Tachkendis  : — 

"The  route  from  Semipolatinsk  to  Kouldja  is 
twenty-five  days.  It  passes  by  the  mountains  Ala- 
chan  and  Rondegatay,  in  the  steppe  of  the  Middle 
Horde  of  the  Kirghiz,  the  borders  of  the  lake  Savan- 
de-koul,  the  Tarbagatai  mountains  in  Zungaria,  and 
the  river  Emyl.  When  it  has  been  traversed,  the 
road  unites  with  that  which  leads  from  Tehougeut- 
chak  to  the  province  of  Ele.  From  the  banks  of  the 
Emyl  to  the  lake  Ala-koul  the  distance  is  39|  miles. 
The  Tartars  estimate  the  distance  of  this  lake  from 
Semipolatinsk  at  301  miles.  It  is  to  the  right  of  the 
road,  and  exte.  Is  from  east  to  west  66^  miles.  In  the 
midst  of  this  lake  rises  a  very  high  mountain,  named 
Aral-toube.  From  this  to  the  Chinese  post,  situated 
between  the  little  lake  Janalache-koul  and  the  river 
Baratara,  on  the  banks  of  which  reside  Kalmucks,  are 
reckoned  36  miles." 

It  is  evident  that  the  same  mountain  is  alluded  to 
in  both  these  accounts ;  and  with  the  view  of  con- 
necting it  with  the  volcanoes  discovered  by  Klaproth 
and  Abel  Remusat,  mentioned  in  very  ancient  Chinese 
books  as  existing  in  the  interior  of  Asia  to  the  north 
and  south  of  Teen-shan,  our  author  presents  an  ac- 
count of  the  geography  of  this  interesting  region. 

The  middle  and  internal  part  of  Asia,  which  forms 
neither  an  immense  aggregate  of  hills  nor  a  contin- 
uous platform,  is  intersected  from  east  to  west  by 
four  great  systems  of  mountains,  which  have  exer- 
cised a  decided  influence  upon  the  movements  of  na- 
tions. These  systems  are,  1.  The  Altaic,  which  is 
terminated  to  the  west  by  the  mountains  of  the 
Kirghiz ;  2.  Teen-shan ;  3.  Kwanlun  ;  and,  4.  The 


360  ALTAIC  SYSTEM. 

Himmaleh  chain.  Between  the  Altaic  range  and 
Teen-shan  are  Zungaria  and  the  basin  of  the  Ele ; 
between  Teen-shan  and  Kwan-lun,  Little  or  Upper 
Bucharia,  or  Cashgar,  Yarkand,  Khoten,  or  Yu-thian, 
the  great  desert,  Toorfan,  Khamil,  and  Tangout,  or 
the  Northern  Tangout  of  the  Chinese,  which  must 
not  be  confounded  with  Thibet  or  Sefan.  Lastly, 
between  Kwan-lun  and  the  Himmaleh  are  Eastern 
and  Western  Thibet,  in  which  are  Lassa  and  Ladak. 
Were  the  three  elevated  plains  situated  between  the 
Altai,  Teen-shan,  Kwan-lun,  and  the  Himmaleh  to 
be  indicated  by  the  position  of  three  alpine  lakes,  we 
might  select  for  this  purpose  those  of  Balkachi,  Lop, 
and  Tengri,  which  correspond  to  the  plains  of  Zun- 
garia, Tangout,  and  Thibet. 

1.  System  of  the  Altai. — It  surrounds  the  sources 
of  the  Irtisch  and  Jenisei  or  Rem.  To  the  east  it 
takes  the  name  of  Tangnou ;  between  the  lakes  Ros- 
sogol  and  Baikal,  that  of  the  Sayanian  Mountains  ;  be- 
yond this  it  takes  the  name  of  Upper  Kentai,  and  the 
Davourian  Mountains ;  and,  lastly,  to  the  north-east 
it  connects  itself  with  the  Jablonnoikhrebet  chain, 
Khingkhan,  and  the  Aldan  mountains,  which  advance 
along  the  Sea  of  Ochotzk.  The  mean  latitude  of  its 
prolongation  from  east  to  west  is  between  50°  and  51° 
30'.  The  Altaic  range,  properly  so  called,  scarcely 
occupies  seven  degrees  of  longitude  ;  but  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  mountains,  surrounding  the  great 
mass  of  elevated  land  in  the  interior  of  Asia,  and  oc- 
cupying the  space  comprised  between  48°  and  51°, 
is  considered  as  belonging  to  this  system,  because 
simple  names  are  more  easily  retained  by  the  mem- 
ory, and  because  that  of  Altai  is  more  known  to 
Europeans  by  its  great  metallic  richness,  which 
amounts  annually  to  45,907  troy  pounds  of  silver,  and 
1246  troy  pounds  of  gold.  The  Altaic  mountains  are 
not  a  chain  forming  the  boundary  of  a  country  like 
the  Himmaleh,  which  limit  the  elevated  plain  of  Thi- 
bet, and  have  a  rapid  slope  only  on  the  side  next  to 


TEEN-SHAN  MOUNTAINS.          361 

India,  which  is  lower.  The  plains  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  lake  Balkachi  have  not  an  elevation  of 
more  than  1920  feet  above  the  sea. 

Between  the  meridians  of  Oust-Kamenogorsk  and 
Semipolatinsk  the  Altaic  system  is  prolonged,  from 
east  to  west  under  the  parallels  of  49  and  50  degrees, 
by  a  chain  of  low  mountains,  over  an  extent  of  736 
miles,  as  far  as  the  steppe  of  the  Kirghiz.  This  ridge 
has  been  elevated  through  a  fissure  which  forms  the 
line  of  separation  of  the  streams  of  the  Sara-sou  and 
Irtisch,  and  which  regularly  follows  the  same  direc- 
tion over  an  extent  of  16  degrees  of  longitude.  It 
consists  of  stratified  granites  not  intermixed  with 
gneiss,  and  of  greenstone,  porphyry,  jasper,  and  tran- 
sition-limestone, in  which  there  occur  various  me- 
tallic substances.  This  low  range  does  not  reach 
the  southern  extremity  of  the  Ural,  a  chain  which, 
like  the  Andes,  presents  a  long  wall  running  north 
and  south,  with  metallic  mines  on  its  eastern  slope, 
but  terminates  abruptly  in  the  meridian  of  Sverino- 
govloskoi. 

Here  commences  a  remarkable  region  of  lakes, 
c6mprising  the  group  of  Balek-koul  (lat.  51°  30'), 
and  that  of  Koumkoul  (lat.  49°  45'),  indicating  an 
ancient  communication  of  a  mass  of  water  with  the 
lake  Ak-sakal,  which  receives  the  Tourgai  and  the 
Kamichloi  Irghiz,  as  well  as  with  the  lake  Aral; 
and  which  would  seem  from  Chinese  accounts  to 
have  formed  part  of  a  great  plain  extending  to  the 
borders  of  the  Frozen  Sea. 

2.  System  of  Teen-shan. — The  mean  latitude  of 
this  system  is  the  42d  degree.  Its  highest  summit 
is  perhaps  the  mass  of  mountains  covered  with  per- 
petual snow,  and  celebrated  under  the  name  of 
Bokhda-ovla,  from  which  Pallas  gave  the  designation 
of  Bogdo  to  the  whole  chain.  From  Bokhda-ovla 
and  Khatoun-bokhda,  the  Teen-shan  mountains  run 
eastward  towards  Bar-koul,  where  they  are  suddenly 
lowered  so  as  to  fall  to  the  level  of  the  elevated 
Hh 


302  TEEN-SHAN   MOUNTAINS* 

desert,  called  the  Great  Gobi  or  Cha-mo,  which  ex- 
tends from  Koua-tcheou,  a  Chinese  town,  to  the 
sources  of  the  Argoun.  If  we  now  return  to  Bokhdo- 
Ovla,  we  find  the  western  prolongation  of  these 
mountains  stretching  to  Goudja  and  Koutche,  then 
between  lake  Temoustou  and  Aksou  to  the  north 
of  Cashgar,  and  running  towards  Samarcand.  The 
country  comprehended  between  the  Altaic  chain  and 
the  Teen-shan  mountains  is  shut  up  to  the  east, 
beyond  the  meridian  of  Pekin,  by  the  Khingkhan- 
ovla,  a  lofty  ridge,  which  runs  from  south-west  to 
north-east ;  but  to  the  west  it  is.  entirely  open. 

The  ease  is  very  different  with  the  country  limited 
by  the  second  and  third  systems,  the  Teen-shan  and 
Kwan-lun  ranges ;  it  being  closed  to  the  west  by  a 
transverse  ridge,  which  runs  north  and  south,  under 
the  name  of  Bolor  or  Belour-tagh.  This  chain 
separates  Little  Bucharia  from  Great  Bucharia,  the 
country  of  Cashgar,  Badakshan,  and  Upper  Djihoun, 
Its  southern  part,  which  is  connected  with  the  Kwan- 
lun  system,  forms  a  part  of  the  Tsungling  of  the 
Chinese.  To  the  north  it  joins  the  chain  which 
passes  to  the  north-west  of  Cashgar.  Between 
Khokand,  Dervagel,  and  Hissar,  consequently  be- 
tween the  still  unknown  sources  of  the  Sihon  and 
Amou-deria,  the  Teen-shan  rises  before  lowering 
again  in  the  Kanat  of  Bochara,  and  presents  a  group 
of  high  mountains,  several  of  which  are  covered 
with  snow  even  in  summer.  More  to  the  east  it  is 
less  elevated.  The  road  from  Semipolatinsk  to 
Cashgar  passes  to  the  east  of  lake  Balkachi  and  to 
the  west  of  lake  Ossi-koul,  and  crosses  the  Narim, 
a  tributary  of  the  Sihon.  At  the  distance  of  69 £ 
miles  from  the  Narim  to  the  south,  it  passes  over 
the  Rovat,  which  has  a  large  cave,  and  is  the  highest 
point  before  arriving  at  the  Chinese  post  to  the  south 
of  the  Ak-sou,  the  village  of  Artuche,  and  Cashgar. 
This  city,  which  is  built  on  the  banks  of  the  Ar&- 


KWAN-LUN    SYSTEM.  363 

tumen,  has  15,000  houses  and  80,000  inhabitants, 
although  it  is  smaller  than  Samarcand. 

The  western  prolongation  of  the  Teen-shan  or 
the  Mouz-tagh,  is  deserving  of  particular  examina- 
tion. At  the  point  where  the  Bolor  or  Belour-tagh 
joins  the  Mouz-tagh  at  right  angles,  the  latter  con- 
tinues to  run  without  interruption  from  east  to  west, 
under  the  name  of  Asferah-tagh,  to  the  south  of  the 
Sihon,  towards  Kodjend  and  Ourat-eppeh  in  Fer- 
*  ganah.  This  chain  of  Asferah,  which  is  covered 
with  perpetual  snow,  separates  the  sources  of  the 
Sihon  (Jaxartes)  from  those  of  the  Arnou  (Oxus).  It 
turns  to  the  south-west  nearly  in  the  meridian  of 
Kodjend,  and  in  this  direction  is  named,  till  it  ap- 
proaches Samarcand,  Aktagh,  or  Al-Botous.  More 
to  the  west,  on  the  fertile  banks  of  the  Kohik,  com- 
mences the  vast  depression  of  ground  comprising 
Great  Bucharia  and  the  country  of  Mavar-ul-Nahar ; 
but  beyond  the  Caspian  Sea,  nearly  in  the  same 
latitude  and  in  the  same  direction  as  the  Teen-shan 
range,  is  seen  the  Caucasus  with  its  porphyries  and 
trachytes.  It  may,  therefore,  be  considered  as  a 
continuation  of  the  fissure  upon  which  the  Teen-shan 
is  raised  in  the  east,  just  as,  to  the  west  of  the  great 
mass  of  mountains  of  Adzarbaidjan  and  Armenia, 
Mount  Taurus  is  a  continuation  of  the  action  of  the 
fissure  of  the  Himmaleh  and  Hindoo-Coosh  moun- 
tains. 

3.  Kwan-lun  System. — The  Kwan-lun  or  Kotil-koun 
chain  is  between  Khoten,  the  mountains  of  Khou- 
khou-noor  and  Eastern  Thibet,  and  the  country 
named  Katchi.  It  commences  to  the  west  at  the 
Tsung-ling  mountains.  It  is  connected  with  the 
transverse  chain  of  Bolor,  as  observed  above,  and, 
according  to  the  Chinese  books,  forms  its  southern 
part.  This  corner  of  the  globe,  between  Little  Thi- 
bet and  the  Boda  Kohan,  is  very  little  known, 
although  it  is  rich  in  rubies,  lapis  lazuli,  and  mineral 


364  HIMMALEH   MOUNTAINS. 

turquois ;  and,  according  to  recent  accounts,  the  plain 
of  Khorassan,  which  runs  in  the  direction  of  Herat, 
and  limits  the  Hindoo-kho  to  the  north,  appears  to 
be  rather  a  continuation  of  the  Tsungling  and  of  the 
whole  system  of  Kwan-lun  to  the  west,  than  a  pro- 
longation of  the  Himmalehs,  as  is  commonly  sup- 
posed. From  the  Tsung-ling  the  Kwan-lun,  or  Koul- 
koun  range,  runs  from  west  to  east  towards  the 
sources  of  the  Hoang-ho  or  Yellow  River,  and 
penetrates  with  its  snowy  summits  into  Chen-si,  a 
province  of  China.  Nearly  in  the  meridian  of  these 
springs  rises  the  great  mass  of  mountains  on  the 
lake  Khoukhou-noor,  resting  to  the  north  upon  the 
snowy  chain  of  the  Nanshan  or  Ki-leen-shan,  which 
also  runs  from  west  to  east.  Between  Nanshan  and 
Teen-shan,  the  heights  of  Tangout  limit  the  margin 
of  the  upper  desert  of  Gobi,  or  Cha-mo,  which  is 
prolonged  from  south-west  to  north-east.  The 
latitude  of  the  central  part  of  the  Kwan-lun  range  is 
35°  30'. 

4.  Himmaleh  System. — This  system  separates  the 
valleys  of  Cashmere  and  Nepaul  from  Bootan  and 
Thibet.  To  the  west  it  rises  in  the  mountain  Ja- 
vaher  to  an  elevation  of  25,746  feet,  and  to  the  east 
in  Dhwalagiri  to  28,074  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea.  Its  general  direction  is  from  north-west  to 
south-east,  and  thus  it  is  not  at  all  parallel  to  the 
Kwanlun  range,  to  which  it  approaches  so  near  in  the 
meridian  of  Attok  and  Jellalabad  that  they  seem  to 
form  the  same  mass  of  mountains.  Following  the 
Himmaleh  range  eastward,  we  find  it  bordering 
Assam  on  the  north,  containing  the  sources  of  the 
Brahmapoutra,  passing  through  the  northern  part  of 
Ava,  and  penetrating  into  Yun-nan,  a  province  of 
China,  to  the  west  of  Young-tchang.  It  there  ex- 
hibits pointed  and  snow-clad  summits.  It  bends 
abruptly  to  the  north-east,  on  the  confines  of  Hou- 
kouang,  Kiang-si,  and  Foukian,  and  advances  its 


VOLCANIC  ELEVATION  OF  CHAINS.     365 

snowy  peaks  towards  the  ocean ;  the  island  of  For- 
mosa, the  mountains  of  which  are  in  like  manner 
covered  during  the  greater  part  of  summer,  being  its 
termination.  Thus  we  may  follow  the  Himmaleh 
system  as  a  continuous  chain  from  the  Eastern 
Ocean,  through  Hindoo -kho,  across  Candahar  and 
Khorassan,  to  beyond  the  Caspian  Sea  in  Adzar- 
baidjan,  along  an  extent  of  73  degrees,  or  half  the 
length  of  the  Andes.  The  western  extremity,  which 
is  volcanic  (like  the  eastern  part),  loses  its  character 
of  a  chain  in  the  mountains  of  Armenia,  which  are 
connected  with  Sangalou,  Bingheul,  and  Kachmir- 
daugh,  in  the  pachalic  of  Erzeroum.  The  mean 
direction  of  the  system  is  north  55°  west. 

These  mountain-chains,  with  their  various  rami- 
fications and  intervening  platforms  and  valleys,  af- 
ford evidence  to  our  author  of  revolutions  anciently 
undergone  by  the  crust  of  the  globe ;  these  having 
been  elevated  by  matter  thrust  up  in  the  line  of 
enormous  cracks  and  fissures.  The  great  depression 
of  Central  Asia,  spoken  of  above,  he  considers  as 
having  been  caused  by  the  same  action.  Analogous 
to  the  Caspian  Sea  and  other  cavities  in  this  district, 
are  the  lakes  formed  in  Europe  at  the  foot  of  the 
Alps,  and  which  also  owe  their  origin  to  a  sinking 
of  the  ground.  It  is  chiefly  in  the  extent  of  this 
depression  of  Central  Asia,  and  consequently  in  the 
space  where  the  resistance  was  least,  that  we  find 
traces  of  volcanic  action.  Several  volcanoes  are 
described  in  this  space  by  ancient  Chinese  writers, 
who  also  mention  a  variety  of  volcanic  products, 
such  as  sal  ammoniac  and  sulphur,  which  form  articles 
of  commerce. 

"  We  thus  know,1'  says  our  author,  "  in  the  interior 
of  Asia,  a  volcanic  territory,  the  surface  of  which 
is  upwards  of  2500  square  geographical  miles,  and 
which  is  from  1000  to  1400  miles  distant  from  the 
sea.  It  fills  the  half  of  the  longitudinal  valley  sit- 
Hh2 


366        VOLCANIC    REGION    OF    CENTRAL   ASIA. 

uated  between  the  first  and  second  system  of  moun- 
tains. The  principal  seat  of  volcanic  action  appears 
to  be  in  the  Teen-shan.  Perhaps  the  colossal 
Bokhda-ovla  is  a  trachytic  formation,  like  Chimbo- 
razo."  On  both  sides  of  the  Teen-shan  violent 
earthquakes  occur.  The  city  of  Aksou  was  entirely 
destroyed  at  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth 
century  by  a  commotion  of  this  nature.  In  Eastern 
Siberia  the  centre  of  the  circle  of  shocks  appears 
to  be  at  Irkutzk,  and  in  the  deep  basin  of  the  Baikal 
lake,  in  the  vicinity  of  which  volcanic  products  are 
observed.  But  this  point  of  the  Altaic  range  is  the 
extreme  limit  of  these  phenomena,  no  earthquakes 
having  been  experienced  farther  to  the  west,  in  the 
plains  of  Siberia,  between  the  Altaic  and  Uralian 
ranges,  or  in  any  part  of  the  latter. 

The  volcanic  territory  of  Bichbalik  is  to  the  east 
of  the  great  depression  of  Asia.  To  the  south  and 
west  of  this  internal  basin  we  find  two  cones  in  ac- 
tivity,— Demavend,  which  is  visible  from  Teheran, 
and  Seiban  of  Ararat,  which  is  covered  with  vitreous 
lavas.  On  both  sides  of  the  isthmus  between  the 
Caspian  and  the  Black  Sea  springs  of  naphtha  and 
mud-eruptions  are  numerous. 

On  the  western  margin  of  the  great  depression,  if 
we  proceed  from  the  Caucasian  isthmus  to  the  north 
and  north-west,  we  arrive  at  the  territory  of  the 
great  horizontal  and  tertiary  deposites  of  Southern 
Russia  and  Poland.  Here  we  find  igneous  rocks 
piercing  the  red-sandstone  of  Jekaterinoslav,  together 
with  asphaltum  and  springs  impregnated  with  sul- 
phurous gases. 

A  phenomenon  so  great  as  that  of  the  central  de- 
pression of  Asia,  which  resembles  the  circular  val- 
leys of  the  moon,  could  have  been  produced  only  by 
a  very  powerful  cause  acting  in  the  interior  of  the 
earth.  This  cause,  while  forming  the  crust  of  the 
globe  by  sudden  raisings  and  sinkings,  probably  filled 


CONCLUSION.  367 

with  metallic  substances  the  fissures  of  the  Uralian 
and  Altaic  chains. 

It  is  not  the  custom  of  our  author  to  detail  per- 
sonal adventures,  his  object  being  to  give  a  scientific 
character  to  his  narrative  ;  and  for  this  reason  his 
relations  may  be  less  interesting  to  many  readers 
than  some  of  the  travels  and  voyages  which  have  of 
late  been  so  profusely  offered  to  the  public.  He  is 
at  present  engaged  in  preparing  an  account  of  his 
Asiatic  tour,  the  full  details  of  which  will  appear 
under  the  general  title  of  "  A  Journey  to  the  Uralian 
Range,  the  Mountains  of  Kolyvan,  the  Frontier  of 
Chinese  Zungaria,  and  the  Caspian  Sea,  made  by 
Order  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  in  1829,  by  A.  de 
Humboldt,  G.  Ehrenberg,  and  G.  Rose."  It  will 
consist  of  three  distinct  works :  1.  A  geological  and 
physical  view  of  the  north-west  of  Asia,  observa- 
tions of  terrestrial  magnetism,  and  results  of  astro- 
nomical geography,  by  Baron  Humboldt.  2.  The 
mineralogical  and  geological  details,  the  results  of 
chymical  analysis,  and  the  narrative  of  the  journey, 
by  M.  Rose.  3.  The  botanical  and  zoological  part, 
with  observations  on  the  distribution  of  plants  and 
animals,  by  M.  Ehrenberg. 

Any  formal  eulogy  on  our  illustrious  author  must 
be  altogether  unnecessary,  for  his  renown  has  ex- 
tended over  all  parts  of  the  civilized  world ;  and,  at 
the  present  day,  there  is  not  a  man  of  science  in 
Europe  whose  name  is  more  familiar.  Long  after 
his  career  shall  have  terminated,  Humboldt  will  be 
remembered  as  one  of  the  chief  ornaments  of  an 
age  peculiarly  remarkable  in  the  history  of  the 
world. 


THE    END. 


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